Shekel drops back from near record

Shekel drops back from near record

By Peter Garnham

Published: July 10 2008 15:12 | Last updated: July 10 2008 19:02

The Israeli shekel tumbled from a near 12-year high against the dollar on Thursday after the Bank of Israel said it was stepping up its daily purchases of foreign currency.

The central bank said it was lifting daily purchases from $25m to $100m because of “market conditions”, adding that it was part of a plan to boost its reserves – which currently stand at about $30bn – to between $35bn-$40bn during the next two years.

Win Thin at Brown Brothers Harriman said it was clearly a signal that the Israeli authorities were concerned about the recent strength of the shekel, which has been driven to multi-year highs by expectations of further monetary tightening and the resilience of the Israeli export sector.

Early in Thursday’s session, the shekel hit Shk3.2041 against the dollar, its strongest level since October 1996, before sliding sharply after the central bank’s announcement.

“It is very unlikely that the shekel will make new highs in the second half of the year,” said Mr Win.

The shekel had dropped 3.5 per cent to Shk3.3260 against the dollar by midday in New York.

Meanwhile, sterling lost ground as the UK’s largest mortgage lender delivered more bad news on the state of the housing market and the Bank of England kept interest rates on hold.

The Bank’s decision to leave interest rates at 5 per cent was widely expected, given the recent rise in inflationary pressure in the UK economy.

However, it was figures from Halifax, the mortgage lender, which showed UK house prices fell 2 per cent in June – a larger drop than expected and the eighth consecutive monthly fall – that weighed on sterling. Analysts said the news, combined with other recent gloomy data, added to the perception that the UK economy was weakening sharply.

The pound fell 0.3 per cent to $1.9775 against the dollar, lost 0.6 per cent to £0.7981 against the euro and eased 0.2 per cent to Y211.27 against the yen.

Elsewhere, the dollar reversed early gains against the euro on renewed fears over the health of the US financial sector. The dollar eased 0.3 per cent to $1.5778 against the single currency. The dollar also lost 0.1 per cent to SFr1.0272 against the Swiss franc but managed to advance 0.1 per cent to Y106.80 against the yen.

The Australian dollar advanced, rising 0.7 per cent to $0.9625 against the US dollar as stronger-than-expected employment data gave the currency a lift.

Meanwhile, the Norwegian krone dropped to a 14-week low against the euro after weaker-than-expected inflation data. Analysts said that the figures reduced the pressure on the Norwegian central bank to raise interest rates further. The krone fell 0.2 per cent to NKr8.0605 against the euro.

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Freddie and Fannie in turmoil

By James Politi in Washington and Ben White in New York

Published: July 10 2008 16:05 | Last updated: July 10 2008 21:03

Shares in Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae plunged in frantic trading on Thursday in spite of attempts by US regulators to provide reassurance that the two government-sponsored mortgage financiers remained on a solid footing.

Shares in Freddie were down 17.7 per cent and Fannie’s were off 10 per cent by mid-afternoon in New York, their lowest levels since 1991. Other participants in the mortgage market, including Lehman Brothers, also suffered steep falls, although the overall stock market climbed higher.

Investors were unnerved by a warning from Bill Poole, former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis, that the chances that a bail-out of Fannie and Freddie might be needed were increasing.

Mr Poole said Freddie Mac owed $5.2bn (£2.6bn) more than its assets were worth in the first quarter, making it insolvent under fair value accounting rules.

Freddie Mac argues that such a measure does not reflect the economics of the company, which holds mortgages to maturity but has to account for them at today’s market prices.

Fannie and Freddie account for nearly three-quarters of new US mortgages, and their difficulties add to worries about the US economy. Many investors assume that the US government would have to take action to prevent a collapse of Fannie and Freddie, potentially at a big cost to taxpayers.

Speaking before the House financial services committee on Thursday, Hank Paulson, US Treasury secretary, and Ben Bernanke, Federal Reserve chairman, sought to calm the markets.

“Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are . . . working through this challenging period,” Mr Paulson said. “They play an important role in our housing markets today and need to continue to play an important role in the future. Their regulator has made clear that they are adequately capitalised.”

Mr Bernanke added: “I believe they are well capitalised in a regulatory sense.” However, he added that, like other financial institutions, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should also try to raise more capital.

The future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac was also discussed on the presidential election campaign trail, where John McCain, the Republican candidate, said the two companies “are vital to Americans’ ability to own their own homes . . . They will not fail; we cannot allow them to fail.”

Shares in Lehman, which has been hammered this year over fears about its liquidity and revenue prospects, were down 9 per cent to $17.95 in midday trade. The stock, a popular target of short-sellers, is now down 26 per cent this week and 72 per cent this year.

Lehman has been beset by rumours, the latest being that Pimco, the giant fixed income manager, had reduced the amount of business it does with Lehman. Pimco publicly denied this.

Both Lehman and Morgan Stanley were downgraded to ”deteriorating” by Gimme Credit as the bond research fund said both banks could face more losses in the third quarter.

Lehman has been attacked by short-sellers who argue it could face the same liquidity crisis that sank Bear Stearns in March. Lehman has said it has far more liquidity than Bear and a broader mix of businesses. However, critics argue that Lehman’s liquidity position would be dramatically weakened if it loses access to the emergency borrowing window the New York Federal Reserve opened for investment banks in March.

Mr Bernanke and Mr Paulson were testifying at the first congressional hearing called to examine changes to the US financial regulatory system in the wake of the credit crisis.

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U.S. govt considering takeover of Fannie and Freddie
Reuters
Reuters - 1 hour 9 minutes ago

TOKYO (Reuters) - The U.S. government is considering taking over the top U.S. mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and placing them into conservatorship if their problems worsen, the New York Times reported, citing people briefed about the plan.
(Advertisement)

Under conservatorship, the shares of Fannie and Freddie would be worth little or northing, and any losses on the mortgages they guarantee would be paid by taxpayers, the New York Times said in the report published late on Thursday.

Senior officials in the Bush administration had considered calling for legislation that would offer an explicit government guarantee on the $5 trillion (2.5 trillion pounds) of debt owned or guaranteed by the companies, but that was considered unattractive because it would effectively double the size of the public debt, the paper reported.

The report gave a boost to investors who have fretted about the financial condition of Fannie and Freddie all week, sending the dollar slightly higher and sparking a rebound in Asian stock markets.

For the New York Times report online, click on: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/11/business/11fannie.html?_r=1&hp=&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print

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Data raise fears of eurozone recession

By Ralph Atkins in Frankfurt

Published: July 10 2008 18:34 | Last updated: July 10 2008 18:34

Steep falls in eurozone industrial production on Thursday highlighted the economic slowdown under way across the 15-country region, raising the risk of technical recessions in at least some member countries.

France and Italy reported far sharper than expected drops in industrial output in May, echoing similarly weak German production and export data released this week and reinforcing expectations that second quarter eurozone growth figures would be bad.

The change in mood has been sharpest in Germany, where the economy is thought to have contracted in the three months to June after an exceptional growth spurt at the start of the year.

“The tone of the debate in the eurozone might shift quite quickly from inflation concerns to straightforward growth concerns,” said Marco Annunziata at Unicredit, suggesting Germany faced an outside risk of recession – two consecutive quarters of negative growth. In Italy the risks were higher, Mr Annunziata said.

France and Italy on Thursday reported falls of 2.6 per cent and 1.4 per cent in industrial output in May, suggesting that like Germany their manufacturing sectors had been hit by the impact of soaring oil prices on global growth prospects. Overall, eurozone industrial production figures – due to be released on Monday – could show a drop of 3 per cent, the biggest monthly decline since June 1984, said James Ashley at Barclays Capital.

Recent statistics might have exaggerated the extent of the slowdown. “Everybody expected a payback after the first quarter. These are not necessarily signs of something very dramatic,” said Erik Nielsen at Goldman Sachs.

France still appeared recession-proof, he said, especially given Paris’s apparent willingness to boost demand if necessary. Even Spain – hit by the fallout from a housing market correction – could simply see flatter growth rates rather than outright recession.

Policymakers have taken a noticeably more cautious stance recently. The European Central Bank – which last week raised its main interest rate by one-quarter of a percentage point to 4.25 per cent to head off inflation risks – on Thursday noted significant change in eurozone consumers’ behaviour in the reaction to the oil shock. Unlike in previous periods of food and energy price inflation, consumers had cut back their spending sharply and saved more, the ECB said in its latest monthly bulletin.

One explanation, the ECB suggested, was “that households believe that the factors driving the recent oil and food price increases are likely to be more permanent”. Household spending would also be hit by slower house price growth and less benign employment prospects, the bulletin said.

However, the ECB also noted that continental European economies were benefiting from “a notable increase in export volume growth from the euro area to oil-exporting countries during the recent oil-price boom.” Overall, the ECB stuck to its forecast of “moderate ongoing growth”.

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China’s trade surplus shrinks

By Geoff Dyer in Beijing

Published: July 10 2008 19:34 | Last updated: July 10 2008 19:34

China’s trade surplus fell by 20 per cent in June over the same month last year in a sign that the weaker global economy is having a serious impact on the country’s export sector.

The trade figures, which show export growth slowing sharply, could strengthen the hand of officials in Beijing who are arguing for a slowdown in the rate of appreciation of the Chinese currency to protect exporters.

The deputy head of the Communist party’s policy research office, Zheng Xinli, was quoted in state media on Thursday calling for slower renminbi rises.

“We are not the Asian tigers. We need time to upgrade the structure and to handle the pressure,” he said.

Government officials maintain they are still committed to a tight monetary policy. The currency has appreciated by more than 6 per cent against the US dollar so far this year, helping to ease some of the international pressure over China’s foreign exchange policy.

The trade surplus for June of $21.35bn, against $26.9bn in the same month last year, was well below forecasts, while the rate of growth in exports fell from 28.1 per cent in May to 17.6 per cent last month. Ken Peng, economist at Citigroup in Shanghai, said the trade figures were a sign that “external demand weakness was becoming more widespread”.

Although the Chinese economy continues to show robust growth, policymakers in Beijing face the same delicate balancing act as colleagues in US and Europe, trying to control a surge in inflation without causing too much damage to economic activity.

In a sign of growing official concern about the impact of higher costs on companies in the export sector, Wen Jiabao, prime minister, and Li Keqiang, a vice-premier, have both made publicised visits over the past week to export centres.

State media reported this week that the government was likely to increase tax rebates for certain export industries such as textiles, only a few months after the rebates were cut. Over the past two months, the offshore forward market for the Chinese currency has shown a much slower rate of appreciation.

According to figures leaked to Reuters, consumer price inflation continued to slow last month, falling from 7.7 per cent in May to 7.1 per cent, which could provide further encouragement to relax tightening measures. Moreover, sales and production figures to be released next week are also expected to show some slowdown in growth.

However, several economists cautioned against reading too much into trade figures for one month, as they can be volatile. Goldman Sachs, the investment bank, said it made more sense to combine May and June figures, which together showed a strong growth rate for exports of 22.6 per cent, in line with last year’s trend.

China’s exports to the US grew by just 8 per cent in June, according to customs data, but increased by 25 per cent to the European Union. Imports to China rose by 31 per cent, down from 40 per cent in May.

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Pressure on oil futures’ ‘London loophole’

By Jeremy Grant in London

Published: July 10 2008 19:54 | Last updated: July 10 2008 19:54

Attempts by the US Congress to close a regulatory “gap” in the way the UK’s main energy futures market is overseen – dubbed “the London loophole” – is unlikely to have any effect on record crude oil prices, the US owners of London’s oil futures exchange said on Thursday.

Debate has been raging in Washington over whether speculation in the oil and oil futures markets could be a factor behind record oil prices. Next week, the Treasury select committee holds the first hearing in Britain into the issue.

Some US politicians say the UK oil futures markets could be more vulnerable to what they call “excessive speculation – or outright manipulation – because they are regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA), which is perceived in the US as having weaker surveillance and enforcement than US watchdogs.

Under pressure from Congress, the US futures watchdog, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, has required ICE Futures Europe, the London-based platform where Brent and WTO oil futures are offered, to impose the same trader “position limits” as those that apply to US oil futures exchanges. The aim is to close the “London loophole”.

ICE has agreed to the move. However Charles Vice, chief operating officer of the InterContinental Exchange, the Atlanta-based owner of ICE Futures Europe, told a congressional hearing: “Though politically popular, closure of this loophole is unlikely to have any effect on crude oil prices.”

He pointed out that ICE’s London operations accounted for only 15 per cent of trading in the WTI contract, which is a US benchmark oil futures contract. The New York Mercantile Exchange accounted for the rest.

“Such a small and, in fact declining, market share hardly seems evidence of a meaningful loophole. Does anyone really believe that 15 per cent of any market can somehow cause prices on the dominant 85 per cent of the market to be far above where they would otherwise be?”

His comments came as the UK’s Treasury select committee announced the names of who would be testifying at next week’s “evidence session”, which will focus on “the key factors behind the rise in oil prices, including the role of speculative activity”.

Those giving evidence include three ICE Futures Europe executives – including Sir Bob Reid, its chairman – Alexander Justham, director of market supervision at the FSA, and Steven Fries, chief economist at Shell, the energy group.

In a sign that ICE is stepping up its campaign to lobby the US Congress, the exchange on Thursday unveiled an advertising campaign warning lawmakers against hasty legislation that was “likely to have other unwelcome consequences”.

Using the slogan: “If you make laws in a hurry, it’s bound to end in tears”, ICE cited the banning by Congress in the 1950s of trading in onion futures, which it said resulted in wild fluctuations in the price of onions as speculators were removed from the market.

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Opec and US fuel figures at odds

By Carola Hoyos in London

Published: June 26 2008 02:47 | Last updated: June 26 2008 02:47

Opec believes it will need to produce far less oil over the next 12 years than does the US, creating uncertainty over whether the oil cartel’s members will invest enough to boost production capacity to stop oil prices rising.

The US Energy Information Agency on Wednesday predicted the world would need more than 37m barrels of oil a day from Opec by 2010 and 44.4m b/d in 2020.

But in a concurrent report, Opec said new supply from other regions and biofuels would reduce the need for its oil from 32m b/d today, to 31m b/d in 2012 before it rose again, but only to 35.5m b/d in 2020 – more than 9m b/d less than the EIA expects.

The differing views matter because the long-term forecasts will be one of the main determinants of how much resource-holders invest in future production capacity.

“The oil industry faces great uncertainties over how much to invest,” Opec said in a background paper.

The oil cartel has long argued that consuming countries’ policies to boost car efficiencies and support alternative fuels make it difficult to know how much oil it will have to produce to meet global demand in the longer term.

This thinking is already having an impact. Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, recently postponed plans to expand its production capacity past the 12.5m b/d it is expected to reach next year, arguing the demand it anticipated did not warrant the investment.

Other Opec countries – most notably Qatar in terms of natural gas – have also put expansion plans on hold as record oil prices have dampened the urgency to boost production.

But these countries are also worried that biofuels will make their oil redundant – in what could be a misplaced fear, as a barrel of ethanol is still far more expensive to produce than a barrel of Middle Eastern oil.

The EIA sees the use of biofuels doubling from 2010 to 2030, to reach 2.7m b/d, rather than the group’s previous estimate of 1.7m b/d. US ethanol production will account for more than half of that increase, the EIA said on Wednesday. Renewable fuels are expected to make up about 8.5 per cent of global energy use by 2030, up from about 7.7 per cent in 2005, the EIA said.

Because of its higher price forecast, the EIA, cut its oil demand figures, with needs reaching 89.2m b/d by 2010, rather than the previous estimated 90.7m. Most of that cut came from outside Opec. Non-Opec oil production estimates in 2010 were reduced to 51.8m b/d, down 1.1m b/d, while Opec’s estimated supply dropped only 400,000 b/d. to 37.4m b/d.

“We do think that over the next five to 10 years the high [oil] prices will bring on new supplies that will put downward pressure on price. But we’re not going back to the historic prices we saw in the 1980s and 1990s,” said Guy Caruso, head of the EIA.

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Time right for Asia to eye integration: ADB
AFP
AFP - 1 hour 50 minutes ago

MANILA (AFP) - The time is right for Asian nations to look at financial integration, the Asian Development Bank said in a new study, stressing the benefits for promoting growth and reducing poverty.
(Advertisement)

It said financial cooperation could also help provide a buffer against shocks that have rocked world markets in recent months, if governments worked together to cooperate on policy.

While cooperation has increased markedly since the 1997 Asian financial crisis, the Manila-based bank said it was an "immediate priority" to bolster supervision and surveillance of markets in the region.

"Asia's macroeconomic policy settings currently show little evidence of cooperation -- the region's strong and stable macroeconomic results in recent years reflect, in part, a favourable global environment," it said.

"Eventually, Asian economies may have a single market with common regulations, a common currency, and substantial freedom of movement for workers," the bank said.

"But immediate policy requires both a long-term vision and pragmatic initiatives that will show early, step-by-step results."

It said low trade barriers and well-developed transport and communications links had driven regional integration of production, attracting global investment and leading to Asia's emergence as a global manufacturing leader with China as the main hub.

But while Asia now trades about as much with itself as with Europe and North America, with an output roughly equalling those two other regions in terms of purchasing power parity, financial cooperation was still in the early stages.

"A surprisingly low share of Asia's financial resources is invested in Asian assets," the ADB said.

"Most Asian funds are intermediated through distant global markets despite the region's large savings and ample investment opportunities."

Faced with sharp exchange-rate adjustments in the face of market turmoil and the global slowdown, the bank said, Asia would also benefit from "monitoring and potentially coordinating macroeconomic and exchange rate policies."

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Aerospace bosses press ECB over strong euro: industry body
AFP
AFP - Thursday, July 10 06:37 pm

FRANKFURT (AFP) - European aerospace bosses met Thursday with Jean-Claude Trichet, head of the European Central Bank, to voice concern over the surge in the value of the the euro against the dollar, an industry body said.
(Advertisement)

EADS boss Louis Gallois, Rainer Ott, chairman of the German group Diehl, and Francois Gayet of the Aerospace and Defence Industries Association of Europe (ASD) "expressed their deep concern regarding the impact on their industry of the rapid and extreme fluctuations of the US dollar compared to the euro," according to a statement distributed by ASD.

The ECB declined to provide details of the meeting, but confirmed the company chiefs had met with Trichet.

Trichet invariably responds to questions about the euro's strength by noting that US authorities including Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and President George W. Bush say that a "strong dollar" is in the US interests.

Europe's aviation and defence industry warned last week of possible job losses caused by the euro's rise in value against the dollar, with ASD head Ake Svensson saying that "each 10 cent devaluation of the US dollar against the euro produces a loss of margin of one billion euros to major companies."

The companies, for the most part, have their costs billed in euros but often sell their products in dollars.

On Thursday, the single European currency traded for 1.5703 dollars in London. The euro hit a historic peak of 1.6019 on April 22.

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Switzerland widens probe into BAE Systems: government
AFP
AFP - Thursday, July 10 06:28 pm

GENEVA (AFP) - Switzerland has widened its investigations into British defence company BAE Systems over alleged money laundering, a Swiss government spokeswoman said Thursday.
(Advertisement)

"In the case of BAE Systems, the public ministry of the confederation has opened three criminal investigations over money laundering," said Jeannette Balmer in a statement received by AFP.

In May 2007, Switzerland had confirmed only one money laundering investigation. BAE had said then that it was unaware of the Swiss decision, and that it had a strict ethical policy and "will not tolerate bribery."

The probes are a result of alerts by Switzerland's Money Laundering Reporting Office, added Balmer, who declined to give reasons for widening the probe.

BAE Systems has also been investigated by Britain's Serious Fraud Office for its operations in the Czech Republic, Romania, Chile, Qatar, South Africa and Tanzania.

In 2006, the British office dropped a probe into the company that could have implicated top Saudi officials in an arms contract of 43 billion pounds (53.5 billion euros) between Britain and Saudi Arabia.

The company denied any wrongdoing.

Tony Blair, prime minister at the time, had said that pursuing the probe could threaten intelligence links with Saudi Arabia at a crucial point in the "war on terror."

BAE denied any wrongdoing.

In 2006, British newspaper The Guardian had also reported that secret money transfers amounting to millions of pounds have been made by BAE to the Swiss bank accounts of Syrian arms dealer Wafic Said.

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NAB looking at buying ABN Amro's Australia and NZ assets
AFP
AFP - 1 hour 2 minutes ago

SYDNEY (AFP) - The National Australia Bank said Friday it was in discussions to buy Dutch bank ABN Amro's assets in Australia and New Zealand.
Advertisement

ABN Amro has investment and wholesale banking arms in Australasia which could reportedly fetch more than a billion dollars (950 million US) if sold to Australia's largest bank.

"There can be no certainty that a transaction will result," NAB said a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

"Any potential transaction would be subject to due diligence and, ultimately, the receipt of all relevant regulatory approvals."

A banking consortium led by the Royal Bank of Scotland bought ABN Amro for 71 billion euros (112 billion US) last October, paving the way for the break-up of the Dutch bank.

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富裕層向け金融、欧州勢が攻勢　クレディ・スイス参入

　スイスの大手金融グループ、クレディ・スイスは年内にも富裕層向け金融事業に参入する。対象とするのは10億円以上の金融資産を持つ個人。同事業では豊富な金融ノウハウを売り物に欧州勢が日本でのシェアを拡大している。大手銀や証券も富裕層の取り込みを強化しており、競争が一段と激しくなりそうだ。

　富裕層向けの金融事業はプライベートバンキング（ＰＢ）と呼ばれている。外資系は米国のサブプライムローン問題に端を発した金融市場の混乱で投資銀行業務の収益が落ち込むなか、安定的な手数料が期待できるＰＢに力を入れている。

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三井住友銀・宮城県が連携　七十七銀加え「産業振興協定」

　宮城県と三井住友銀行、七十七銀行は10日、同県への企業誘致や産業育成に向け連携することで基本合意した。同県ではトヨタ自動車グループなどの生産拠点の新設計画が相次ぎ、関連企業の誘致などを通じて生産や雇用を拡大することが課題になっていた。メガバンクの全国的な取引網を生かし、誘致活動を加速する。

　3者は来週初めにも「産業振興に関する協定」を結ぶ。メガバンクが地方の自治体とこうした協定を結ぶのは珍しい。

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保険料控除、生損保一本化で合意　09年度税制改正で要望

　生命保険協会と日本損害保険協会は2009年度の税制改正要望で、2つある保険料控除制度の統合を求めることで合意した。前年度は両協会の主張の隔たりが大きく、窓口となる金融庁がまとめた改正要望も、2つの案を併記する異例の事態になっていた。主張が分かれたままでは改正はおぼつかないとみて両業界が歩み寄った。

　現行の保険料控除は死亡、医療、介護保険の保険料を所得から差し引く「生命保険料控除」と、個人年金の保険料を差し引く「個人年金保険料控除」に分かれる。

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20代男性に海外旅行離れ　国交省調査

　国土交通省は10日、海外旅行者満足度・意識調査の結果を発表した。過去3年間海外旅行をしていない20歳代の男性で、「今後海外旅行に行きたい」と考えている人は31.9％にとどまった。3年間海外旅行をしなかった20歳代女性では57.1％が「行きたい」と考えており、20歳代男性の海外旅行離れが目立つ。

　過去3年間に海外旅行をした3000人と、しなかった600人を対象に今年2月、インターネットで調べた。

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日本航空、中国・韓国線を一部廃止へ

　日本航空が成田―西安（週2往復）や中部国際空港―釜山線（同7往復）など、中国や韓国への低採算路線を今年度中に廃止する方向で検討していることが 11日、明らかになった。日航はすでに国内線で福島空港からの撤退などを決めているが、想定をはるかに上回る燃料価格の高騰に対応するため国際線でも廃止路線を広げる。

　中国・韓国線で廃止を検討しているのは成田―西安線や中部―釜山線以外に、福岡―上海線（同7往復）など。中国線はギョーザ問題に加え、四川大地震による影響で搭乗率が低迷しており、今後の燃料価格次第では廃止や減便する路線が増える可能性もある。

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アデランス、スティールに株式短期売買益の返還請求

　アデランスホールディングスは11日、同社株の短期売買で利益を上げていた筆頭株主の米投資ファンド、スティール・パートナーズに対し、利益の返還を請求したと発表した。返還されれば2009年2月期に特別利益5900万円を計上する方針。

　金融商品取引法は、10％以上の株式を保有する大株主が6カ月以内の短期売買で利益を得た場合、会社側は株式売買差益の返還を請求できると規定している。

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石油天然ガス機構、豪でレアアースなど共同探鉱

　経済産業省の外郭団体、石油天然ガス・金属鉱物資源機構（ＪＯＧＭＥＣ）は11日、豪州の探鉱企業ミノタウア・エクスプロレーション（南オーストラリア州）と新たな鉱区における共同探鉱契約を結んだと発表した。新鉱区メーベル・クリークは南オーストラリア州の中央部に位置し、面積は約1050平方キロメートル。乾電池に使われるレアアース（希土類）や銅、ウラン、金などの鉱床の発見が期待できるという。

　ＪＯＧＭＥＣは3年間で200万オーストラリアドル（約2億円）の費用を負担し、51％の権益を得る。ＪＯＧＭＥＣが同社と探鉱契約を結ぶのは3カ所目。

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サッポロ苦境、４位転落

　今年上半期のビール系飲料出荷のシェアで、サッポロビールがサントリーに抜かれ、初の4位に転落した。人気が上昇している低価格の「第3のビール」の出荷を減らし、高価格の看板商品「エビス」の販売もサントリーの商品を下回った。ここ数年の業績低迷による販促費用の節減傾向などが背景にある。消費者の節約志向は根強いと見て、ライバル各社は夏場の最需要期に向け低価格品を一斉増産する構え。サッポロは下期に向け、厳しい競争を強いられそうだ。

　サッポロビールの福永勝社長はビール系飲料シェアで初の4位転落を受け、「上期の結果で方針を大きく変えることはない」とのコメントを発表した。「消費者の生活防衛意識の高まりで店頭価格の差が予想以上に影響した」とサントリーの缶商品の価格据え置きを逆転の理由に挙げた。

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法相がジェンキンスさんに永住許可

　鳩山邦夫法相は11日の閣議後の記者会見で、北朝鮮による拉致被害者、曽我ひとみさんの夫、ジェンキンスさんに「永住を許可するよう（関係部局に）指示した」ことを明らかにした。ジェンキンスさんは6月24日付で、東京入国管理局新潟出張所に永住許可を申請していた。

　一般的には永住許可まで半年程度かかるが、鳩山法相は「できるだけ早く結論を出してあげたかった。提出書類に問題はなく、永住に支障な点もなかった」と述べた。

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「本当に腹が立つ」地村さん父、公明党・北側氏も批判

　自民党の加藤紘一元幹事長の北朝鮮による拉致被害者を「返すべきだった」発言に対し、各界から批判が続出している。

　拉致被害者、地村保志さん（５３）の父、保さん（８１）は１０日、加藤氏あてに「本当に腹が立つ」などとする抗議文をＦＡＸで送った。

　抗議文で保さんは、２００２年に保志さんが帰国した当時を「栄養失調寸前の息子たちを見て、北には絶対返さないと誓った」などと振り返り、加藤氏に対し、「貴殿はそれでも日本人かと言いたい」と怒りをあらわにしている。

　公明党の北側一雄幹事長も同日の記者会見で、「拉致されて日本に帰って来られて、どうしてまた戻す必要があるのか」と加藤氏を批判した。

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教員採用汚職：不正に良心の呵責…逮捕の参事に口利き集中

　「前年に（不正によって）落とした受験生が次の年に合格圏内に入ったら、心底うれしかった」－－。大分県の小学校教員採用試験を巡る収賄容疑で再逮捕された県教委義務教育課参事、江藤勝由容疑者（５２）が関係者に対し、不正に手を染めながらも良心の呵責（かしゃく）に揺れる心を打ち明けている。

　関係者によると、０８年度の採用試験では、口利きのあった受験者の点数を加点する改ざんに伴って減点され不合格になった受験者が約１０人いるという。本来合格するはずだった受験者の点数を減点操作していた江藤容疑者。過去の改ざんによって不合格になった受験者の名前をメモで残していた。その受験者が翌年の試験で合格圏内にいる場合、減点操作の対象から外すなどして意図的に合格させていたという。

　江藤容疑者は別府市出身。大分、別府両市の教諭などを経て、０３年から逮捕されるまでの間は人事班に所属。０７年は小・中学校の教員採用試験結果の集計や最終合格者リストの起案をする立場になった。出世コースでもあったが、人事班配属になった際に「（口利きによる不正採用は）うわさに聞いていたが、本当にあるんだ」とがく然としたという。０７年度の採用試験にあたり、元県教委審議監、二宮政人容疑者（６１）＝収賄容疑で逮捕＝に受験者成績一覧表を示すと、口利きがあった受験者に印が付けられ「最後まで通すように」と指示されたという。

　県教委の佐伯教育事務所在任中（９８年から２年間）に、県教委参事、矢野哲郎容疑者（５２）＝贈賄容疑で再逮捕＝と知り合った。江藤容疑者は人事班に入って以降、口利きによる不正の多さについて「もううんざりだ。こんなことやってられない」と、矢野容疑者に愚痴をこぼしていたという。

　江藤容疑者に合格依頼の口利きが集中していたが、「何の見返りもないことが多く、大半を汚れ役に徹していた」と言われる。

　こうした事情を知った矢野容疑者は小学校校長、浅利幾美被告（５２）＝贈賄罪で起訴＝に「今度（浅利被告の長男長女の合格依頼の際）は直接、本人にお礼をしよう」と告げ、贈賄工作を持ちかけていたという。

　０８年度採用試験の際に浅利被告から現金と金券計４００万円を受け取った江藤容疑者。ところが発覚を恐れ「矢野さんの時（０７年度採用試験の贈収賄事件）だけでやめておきたかった」と周辺に打ち明けたという。だが、今年３月、佐伯市内の校長、教頭の３人から昇進の謝礼として計１１０万円の金券を受け取っていた疑いも浮上した。金まみれの職員採用、内部昇進……。関係者からは「次第に感覚がマヒしたのだろう」との指摘も上がっている。

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三井住友銀、インドに再進出…インフラ整備に融資

　三井住友銀行がインドに再進出し、アジア戦略を一段と強化することが１１日明らかになった。

　ニューデリーに設立した現地法人で大規模事業向け融資の関連業務を手がけるほか、インドの政府系金融機関と業務提携する。

　インドは経済成長が著しく鉄道、港湾など社会資本整備の大プロジェクトが相次ぐ。欧米金融機関が優位に立ってきたインド市場での事業拡大を目指す考えだ。

　６月下旬から営業開始した現地法人は、第１弾として大規模プロジェクトに必要な資金を調達する手法の提案や、事業計画の分析・検証をする「財務助言業務」を行う。実際の融資はアジアの近隣支店などで取りまとめる。

　三井住友銀行は不良債権処理に伴うリストラ策で２００５年にインド国内の２店舗を閉鎖。その後、インドではデリーとムンバイ間で鉄道や道路などを整備する「産業大動脈構想」や石油・ガス資源採掘などの計画が次々持ち上がるなど資金需要が高まったことから、早期の再進出が必要と判断した。

　インド市場では、みずほコーポレート銀行が今年１月、インド最大手の銀行と提携。サブプライムローン問題で世界的な事業縮小に追い込まれている欧米勢に比べて、アジア戦略を強める邦銀の進出が加速している。

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世界の協調融資４割減　１―６月160兆円

　【ロンドン＝吉田ありさ】世界の協調融資額が1―6月に1兆5100億ドル（約160兆円）と前年同期比42％減り、上期ベースで4年ぶりの低水準に落ち込んだ。米国の信用力の低い個人向け住宅融資（サブプライムローン）問題などで損失を抱えた米欧金融機関が企業買収に関連した融資などリスクの高い貸し出しを抑制したためだ。一方、サブプライム問題による金融機関の打撃が比較的小さい日本は56％増となり、国別で米国に次ぐ2位に浮上した。

　英米調査会社ディール・ロジックがまとめた。協調融資のなかで特に減少が目立ったのは、買収対象企業の資産を担保に買収資金を融資するＬＢＯなど高リスク融資で61％減少。全体に占める割合は前年同期の44％から31％に低下した。

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U.K. Banks Want More Liquidity Help From BoE, Telegraph Says

By David Altaner

July 11 (Bloomberg) -- U.K. banking officials will meet today with the Bank of England to seek broader terms for a liquidity funding plan that was started in April, the Daily Telegraph reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

The bankers will say that the Special Liquidity Scheme hasn't brought down Libor, the lending rate between banks, or mortgage rates, the newspaper said.

The plan accepts triple A-rated securitized bonds backed by mortgages and credit-card debt and the underlying business must have been transacted by the end of last December, the Telegraph said.

Some bankers may press for the plan to include mortgages written this year, the newspaper said, adding that it started at 50 billion pounds ($99 billion) and may need to go to 100 billion pounds. The Bank wouldn't comment, the Telegraph said.

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Bankers Use Secret Clinics, Nurses to Beat Breakdowns (Update1)

By Thomas Penny
More Photos/Details

July 11 (Bloomberg) -- On a private island 20 minutes by helicopter from central London, a hovercraft sits on the lawn of a turreted Edwardian manor house as swallows swoop around.

Trees and wildflowers line a lane that leads to a cluster of buildings that house a pool table, a 12-seat movie theater and an art studio. A yacht is moored nearby.

The island isn't a country hideaway. It's the Causeway Retreat, a mental health and addiction center that charges as much as 10,000 pounds ($20,000) a week for treatment away from the prying eyes of colleagues and the media. There is a waiting list for the facility's 15 rooms.

``We get lots of CEOs of companies, traders, high-end business guys,'' says Managing Director Brendan Quinn. ``They want treatment, but they want it to be discreet.''

Financial services firms in the U.K. are trying to break the stigma of mental illness as the number of people seeking help increases. JPMorgan Cazenove Ltd. and Herbert Smith LLP sponsored a conference yesterday where employers were urged to do more to help workers with psychological problems and recognize they can still be productive.

Mental health is a growing concern as the credit crunch adds to stress in the City of London, the U.K. capital's financial district. The number of men in the City who sought help for depression and stress rose 47 percent from a year earlier in the past three months, according to British United Provident Association Ltd., the U.K.'s largest private health insurer.

Busy Summer

About 40,000 people in the U.K. financial industry will lose their jobs during the next three years, according to Experian Group Ltd, with London bearing the brunt.

``I'm getting three times as many referrals as I was a year ago, particularly from the corporate sector, and a lot of that's related to the financial crisis,'' says Bennedict Cannon, a London psychotherapist. ``This has been the busiest early summer I've known in 10 years.''

Don Serratt, chief executive officer of Lifeworks, a private treatment facility set in the countryside at Old Woking, southwest of London, says he saw a 20 percent increase in admissions of City workers in the first six months of the year compared with the same period in 2007.

``What happens in these environments becomes so unbearable when times are bad because everyone's really frightened that they're next and they're going to lose their job,'' says Serratt, who was the London-based head of European mergers and acquisitions for Creditanstalt Bank until 1998. He quit after a battle with addictions and severe clinical depression, which he says were exacerbated by the City's environment.

Unhappiness Index

Even in a world of six-figure salaries, bankers report an atmosphere of unhappiness.

Fifty-eight percent of people working in banking and finance say they have seen someone cry as a result of stress at work, according to an nfpSynergy report for the Samaritans, a confidential help line that fields more than 13,000 calls daily, 20 percent from suicidal people.

The industry was recently ranked last in the City & Guilds Happiness Index, based on a survey of 2,000 people in 20 professions. Beauty therapists were first.

``The whole culture of ensuring the stress is dealt with appropriately is missing from the City,'' says Sean Kelly, London outreach coordinator for the Samaritans. ``The very idea that you could be marked as weak shows what a hostile environment it is.''

At any given time, one in six employees in Britain will be affected by ``depression, anxiety or another mental health condition to a clinically diagnosable degree,'' according to a study by the London-based Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health.

Remaining Productive

At yesterday's conference, Dennis Stevenson, chairman of HBOS Plc, Britain's biggest mortgage lender, said his 20-year battle with depression showed it is possible to suffer from mental health problems and have a successful career.

Stevenson, 62, said being in the ``trough'' of endogenous depression, caused by a chemical imbalance rather than stress, was worse than the pain he felt when he broke his leg skiing and the paramedics shut the ambulance door on the limb.

``It's by a long way the worst experience I've had in my life, but I managed to keep working,'' he told an audience of 150, including representatives of Credit Suisse Group, Linklaters LLP and Lloyds TSB Group Plc. ``It's the responsibility of the people at the top of businesses to create a culture and an environment in which people know they can be open without damaging their career.''

`Macho' Culture

Mike McPhillips, a London psychiatrist whose client list includes CEOs, company chairmen and their families, says denial about mental health problems is rife in Britain, particularly in the ``macho'' atmosphere of the financial industry.

``English people are very much slower by and large to accept they are suffering with a psychological problem,'' McPhillips says. ``People come along way too late when there's a lot of damage already done to them, their families, to their relationships and to their children.''

Jonathan Naess, who organized the conference, set up Stand to Reason, a charity that aims to break the taboo of discussing mental health problems, after he returned to work as an equity partner for Nabarro Wells & Co. following a breakdown.

He had left his London office one afternoon for a coffee, and less than an hour later was restrained by six police officers who took him to a psychiatric hospital. A shop clerk who was alarmed at his erratic behavior had called the police.

``I was terrified and thought I'd walked into `One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest,''' said Naess, 40, who asked that the date of the episode not be revealed. ``Then the penny dropped. It was the best place for me to be.''

Returning to Work

His colleagues helped him return to work gradually, starting with light duties, after he had been treated for bipolar disorder, also known as manic depression. He was soon earning more for the company than before his breakdown.

There's a growing industry to help professionals get the assistance they need while remaining on the job, with more treatment being offered at evenings and weekends.

``It is an increasing trend that people are not wanting their mental health problems to interfere with their work,'' says John Wilkins, a psychiatrist at the Priory Hospital, Roehampton, a 107-bed private psychiatric hospital in southwest London.

Although executives have to confront the truth about their illness, doctors at the Causeway encourage them to decide for themselves how much their colleagues and employers need to know about their condition, giving them the option to pretend they are merely conducting business while on vacation.

Board Meeting at Clinic

If someone needs to go to London for a meeting, a nurse can be dressed in a suit, given a file and made to look like a business associate, Quinn says.

In the book-lined billiard room of the manor house, Quinn recalls the day one of Britain's 100-largest publicly traded companies held a board meeting there because a member was a patient. Everything was arranged so there was no hint why he was there, Quinn says.

``We had four helicopters on the lawn, put a sheet of timber over the billiard table, laid out a meal and had 14 people sitting down for a meeting,'' he says. ``I don't think somebody has to go and tell the world about a problem if they don't want to.'' He declined to name the company.

In addition to group and individual therapy and, where necessary, treatment using the island's fully stocked pharmacy, patients are encouraged to exercise and take up long-neglected hobbies. One man spent a month stripping a motorbike and rebuilding it, which he'd wanted to do since he was a teenager, Quinn says.

Outside a former candy store that is now used for group therapy, a silver-haired client passes by on a bicycle. Quinn says he's a top executive at a publicly traded company.

``The whole idea of this place is we try to teach people there's a life outside of work,'' Quinn says. ``When did he last cycle down a country lane without his BlackBerry going off?''

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10:32 GMT, Friday, 11 July 2008 11:32 UK
Weak US dollar hits papal profits
Pope Bendict XVI

The Vatican made a loss last year as the weaker dollar reduced the value of donations from the faithful in the United States.

Almost a quarter of the $79.8m (£40.4m) worth of offerings it received came from collections made in US churches.

But as the dollar lost 15% of its value against the euro, the Catholic Church's governing body made a loss of 9.1m euros (£7.3m: $14.3m) in 2007.

That was despite receiving a single anonymous donation of $14.3m.

CHURCH OFFERINGS TO VATICAN

* United States: $18.7m
* Italy: $8.6m
* Germany $4m
* Spain: $2.7m
* France: $2.4m
* Ireland: $2.2m
* Brazil: $1.4m
* South Korea: $1.1m
* Source: Vatican


In a statement it said that it had been affected "primarily to the sudden and noticeable inversion of the previous trends in exchange rates, most noticeably the US dollar".

Its latest accounts show that the Vatican made 236.7m euros in 2007 compared with outgoings of 245.8m euros.

After the US, the largest offerings - which it quotes in dollars - came from Italy, where churchgoers gave $8.6m directly to the Vatican last year and Germany, where the faithful gave $4m.

Vatican TV

The Vatican also generated revenue from a number of other sources last year, including the 4.3 million visitors to its museums, including the Sistine Chapel.

The Vatican Television Centre, which broadcasts the Pope's regular audiences in St Peter's Square and reports on his visits abroad, made a profit of almost 500,000 euros, while the Vatican Publishing House ended the year with a surplus of 1.6m euros.

But Vatican Radio and the Vatican newspaper together made a loss of 14.6m euros.

The Vatican first revealed its accounts in 1981 under Pope John Paul II to challenge the prevailing idea that it was rich.

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蟹工船ブームも背景に？共産党の新規党員９千人増加

　共産党の第６回中央委員会総会が１１日、党本部で始まり、志位委員長は、新規党員が昨年９月の第５回総会時から約９０００人増えたことを明らかにした。

　同党によると、党員数は１９９０年の５０万人をピークに下落に転じ、２０００年以降は３８～４０万人で横ばいで低迷が続いていた。しかし、昨年９月の第５回総会以降、毎月連続して１０００人規模で増え、計９０００人増加したという。

　志位氏は幹部会報告で「（小林多喜二の）『蟹工船』が若者を中心にブームとなり、マルクスに関心が集まり、テレビ局は『資本主義は限界か』という企画を立てる。共産党がこれまで体験したことのない新しい状況だ」と指摘。さらに年内に２万超の新規党員を獲得する目標を掲げた。

　一方、志位氏は、来年１月に党大会を３年ぶりに開催し、衆院解散・総選挙に向けた態勢作りを急ぐ考えを明らかにした。

　そのうえで、次期衆院選に向けた構えとして、政府・与党との対決姿勢とともに、民主党への批判を強める方針を示した。小選挙区比例代表並立制では、自民、民主両党との違いを示さなければ、埋没しかねないとの危機感からだ。

　志位氏は「民主党は自公政権との対決戦術を前面に押し出し、政権交代すれば政治が変わるということを唯一の売りにしているが、政治がどう変わるのか中身を明らかにできない。自民党と同質同類だ。民主党への批判を進めることが大切だ」と強調した。

　共産党は第５回総会で、次期衆院選では比例選に重点を置くため、全３００小選挙区で候補擁立を目指す方針を転換し、約１４０小選挙区に絞り込む戦略を打ち出した。このため、民主党から「政権交代という一点で共闘できるのではないか」（幹部）と期待する声が出ていた。