Italian banks affected by the threat of downgrading by Moody (AP)

Milano-Italian banks were down sharply on the Milan Stock Exchange Friday after rating Agency Moody's said it was considering lowering their credit worthiness.

Unicredit Bank shares in the country's largest, were down 8 percent in late morning trading on Friday. Intesa Sanpaolo, second largest bank of Italy and Monte Paschi were also down.

In a report released late Thursday, Moody's Investors Service's placed the rating for long-term debt and deposit of 16 Italian banks and two Italian Government related financial institutions on the review for a possible downgrade.

The Agency also changed the rating Outlook to negative from stable on the long-term debt rating and a further 13 Italian banks,

The move comes after Moody's put Italy's public debt on review for possible downgrade on concerns about low growth and high public debt, which, at about 120 percent of GDP, is one of the largest in Europe.

Treated Italy of Moody another shot recently placing several English-government related issuers on review for a possible downgrade. These include energy companies Eni and Enel SpA SpA, engineering and construction company Finmeccanica SpA and Poste Italiane SpA, the postal service nationwide.

It is not only to express concerns about Italy. Standard and poor's recently cut its rating Outlook for Italy's debt from stable to negative.

Italy's financial system has come to further examination on fears of contagion from the Greek crisis.

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Greek banks discuss new rollover plan (Reuters)

Frankfurt/London (Reuters)-European banks and finance officials are discussing a proposal to replace the existing Greek debt with a different type of link to circumvent provisions of credit rating agencies on a scheduled rollover, two senior European banking sources said on Friday.

The proposal provides for a voluntary rollover of debt securities of a composition of different credit and not comparable to avoid moving agencies in Greece default status, sources told Reuters on Friday.

"Only by a completely different composition would bond rating agencies see restructuring as a volunteer and not declare insolvent, Greece," said a senior banker.

Banks, insurers and national finance officials have held meetings this week to seek a solution to the crisis of sovereign debt of Greece.

An elderly German banking source said that banks were still examining a variety of proposals and that they wouldn't agree to commit to any rollover agreement without a signal from rating agencies that there would be no default value.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Friday that French banks and insurance companies were willing to participate in a voluntary rollover of Greek debt.

German private creditors were invited by the Ministry of Finance of the country to submit data on their exposure and their intentions to roll the debt early next week, two other sources familiar with the meetings said.

Euro-zone Governments are discussing a second rescue package for Greece that would run from 2011 to 2014 and would amount to 120 million euros (170 million dollars), including up to 30 billion euro by the private sector.

Germany and France, along with Greek banks themselves, are the largest holders of Greek State debt and therefore more exposed to any default.

There was increasing pressure in countries like Germany, Finland and Netherlands for aggressive steps to force banks to share the burden of a new aid package, after taxpayers coughed all the money in the previous round.

(Reporting by Alex Chambers, Jonathan Gould and Philipp Halstrick; editing by Patrick Graham)

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Small business: the road not taken MBA (BusinessWeek)

For many students and their schools, MBA stands for Master of Business Administration during the program and then to McKinsey, Bain and Accenture, once you start looking for work. Much is made of return on investment, when the subject of MBAs generates what appears to be an indisputable truth that these programs naturally lead to positions with large, public companies.

In this context, a programme of MBA students toward small channels or medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) will probably be seen as unsuccessful or lack of ambition. The same view could be taken by students who choose to take the path of SMEs.

Smaller companies are rarely familiar species name employers usually linked MBAs and are likely to evolve in areas where managers have to get their hands dirty. However, there is a case to be made for SMEs the best possible fit for an MBA to be graduated.

A classic, high quality MBA program is a curriculum designed by the Directorate-General for equipparticipants with all the skills required to manage a business. While the structure rests on specific topics such as finance, strategy and leadership, the overall logic is to merge these blocks of knowledge together. In the vast majority of cases, MBA students shy away from too much specialization, preferring instead to focus on a well-rounded education.

Limited >

Despite the high-profile courtship, MBA recruiters multinational programmes, their emphasis on preparing graduates for jobs in high-level management was not always resonate with larger employers. A large company can offer a wide range of articles, these are often limited to specific functions that are particularly suitable for MBA graduates. In this way, alumni become directors of marketing, purchases or perhaps human resources. Just within a multinational company will begin their careers post-MBA in general management.

The same is not true, within SMEs, where sizealone makes a comprehensive high-level position. That is, not to say that alumni MBA cannot operate in specific roles of the classical Department, but that SMEs provide opportunity to put all these skills and more together in a management role.

In the Western world, in particular, rarely management jobs are created at the well-known companies that MBAs would like to work. Schools and students of today must recognize that it is small businesses that are trying to find the right people to help make them able to compete in a world of ever-more-international business. It is no longer the case that only employers with a massive international presence can offer truly international careers. SMEs are increasingly looking to expand beyond their borders and do not always have management teams to make such a change. This is where MBA programs could respond to a need and at the same time help alumni find very satisfying career at companies you might not ever have looked atin past.

If there is a degree of misunderstanding among providers of MBA graduates and students with regard to SMEs, there is also a general misunderstanding of MBAs by SMEs themselves. Smaller companies that seem ideal for the General management MBAs coming out of the business schools also play a role in maintaining often-subconscious notion that no holder of an MBA would like to work in nothing less than a huge group viva. As regards the recruitment of MBA alumni, there seems to be a big dose of self-censorship at work.

Culture >

It seems that for many SMEs, a graduate MBA might be more trouble than he or she may be worth. The image is likely to be one of a handsomely paid with sacks of self-confidence and extremely high standards. A mix of that would be seen as an explosive one by most of the smaller companies. They seem to feel that the cultural shock and cost involved in recruitment of someone with an MBA wouldcreate a series of problems.

Salary, is also an aspect that could easily scare off the PMI. In terms of cost, there is no denying that an MBA quoted a CV means higher wage expectations. This must be weighed against the far-reaching leadership and strategic advantages that a manager can add to a company more compact. The extra value that can be carried by a graduate MBA is potentially huge.

A manager with a background MBA can offer the kind of long-term vision more common among larger groups allied with the latest knowledge management-vision that smaller firms lack the time or resources to implement. As the globalization of markets, manpower and production puts SMEs increasingly compete with larger companies and those who are active in the markets, this type of approach to 360 degrees can make a difference. In short, the rules of competition for SMEs are always much like those for larger companies. Need to play with the same rules. Here, MBAgraduates can be.

For business schools and their students, recruiters largest will always be a key target. The prestige and the confidence of an increasing sense in terms of career, marketing program, and in some cases, the ranking. Could, however, be the case that some old world must evolve. Can have time for SMEs and MBAs to recognize that could be made for each other.

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Home Retail Group acquires Habitat UK (AFP)

London (AFP)-Home Retail Group in Britain on Friday said it had bought the brand Habitat UK and three of his London furniture stores for £ 24.5 million from private equity firm U.S. Hilco.

HRG, which owns the chain Argos and Homebase chain home improvements, has agreed to pay the equivalent of 39 million or 27.5 million after the exclusive Habitat chain was placed in administration in order to save it from bankruptcy.

"Home Retail Group (HRG) today announces that it has agreed to acquire certain rights to the brand Habitat, one of the main contemporary House United Kingdom dealers," it said in a statement.

"Rights are for the exclusive use of the mark, his designs of the brand and intellectual property in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland.

"In addition, Home Retail Group is also acquiring the site Habitat UK, three of its stores in London and some helper functions."

At the same time, Habitat UK has applied to go into administration-the process by which a troubled company invites independent financial aid in an attempt to restructure the business and remain operational.

The announcement threatens the chain 30 other shops in Britain and about 900 jobs.

Separately, Hilco said it was in "Advanced" talks over the sale of the business Habitat outside of Britain.

The profitable European Division includes 27 stores in France, five in Germany and six in Spain, with franchise agreements in Belgium and Luxembourg.

Habitat established by designer Terence Conran in 1964, represented image young and fashionable of London in the 1960s with a range of pastel colours and products based on his designs.

"The credentials of style led brand Habitat, with its strong, will be a significant addition to the Group's portfolio of brands", HRG CEO Terry Duddy said on Friday.

"In addition to operating the three stores in London and the UK Web site, we will introduce products Habitat throughout the group, including a number of concessions Homebase stores."

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Exclusive: Citi affect customer "standard" monitoring (Reuters)

NEW YORK/BOSTON (Reuters)-after a massive data breach last month, Citigroup did not offer its customers hacked the same degree of protection identity theft that provide many other companies, privacy advocates and critics.

For customers interested in Citigroup, which had more than 360,000 credit card accounts exposed last month, has sent letters this month with tips on protecting yourself against identity theft.

But unlike other large u.s. companies, violated by cybercriminals, Citigroup did not offer to buy or give all customers affected one year of credit monitoring services, preventive file according to a sample of a letter, the Bank sent to many customers and filed with the regulators in Maine.

A year of monitoring has become a standard that offers large companies after customer information is violated, to reassure customers and to protect them from identity theft, privacy advocates and consumers, he said.

"Consumers might wish to turn to Citibank and ask them to do more. It has become rather trivial to offer credit monitoring these days, "Ruth Susswein, Deputy Director of the national consumers ' priorities for action, told Reuters.

"This is really what standard they can do," he said.

The Bank did remind consumers that could put a fraud alert on their credit file, which tells creditors to contact the consumer before allowing an account must be opened in their name.

Credit monitoring services typically do more, such as tracking consumer credit reports for signs that their identities were stolen and giving them early warnings of theft.

Letter to Citigroup clients offers special services for customers that consider their identities have been stolen. Bank spokesman Sean Kevelighan said that clients by calling a toll free number mentioned in the letter would be automatically offered services including at least six months of monitoring.

Hackers failed to steal social security numbers with the Citi data breach. In general, when they have been compromised social security numbers, there is little risk of new account fraud, said Paul Stephens, Director of policy and advocacy for Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, a San Diego non-profit that records violations.

But the facilities are relatively inexpensive and offers now seem to be the norm after most of the violations, he added.

The Bank, already facing legal pressure on its disclosure delayed fracture, now faces additional criticism from supporters who call his reply miser.

"Citigroup has need to take this latest violation more serious than what they have," said Marc Rotenberg, Executive Director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center.

Rotenberg, who testified this week before the Senate Banking Committee of the United States for cybersecurity in the financial sector, told Reuters that companies generally require additional steps such as reducing the amount of personal information held on file.

OPEN RECORDS

Citigroup, the third largest u.s. Bank, including a sample of the letter sent to holders of 703 accounts in Maine, in a filing with the Office of the Attorney General William Schneider. Maine is one of a number of States that require organizations to report when personal data is compromised. Officials provided the letter to Reuters in response to an open records request.

In his letter Citigroup advises customers to "remain vigilant over the next 12 or 24 months of your account activity monitoring" and tells them that they can put a "fraud alert" on their credit files.

Kevelighan said did not directly because the Bank did not make an offer wider free credit monitoring to date.

He said the Bank is "detection rate of satisfaction for nearly 90 percent with customers by contacting us in particular, were influenced by this," based on evaluations by customer service agents who manage their calls. He also reiterated that customers would not be responsible for any unauthorized use of their Citi accounts.

Citigroup said its cyberattackers not stealing social security numbers of its customers or card security numbers and "none of the data violated was sufficient to perpetrate fraud."

Privacy and security experts, said hackers could still find ways to use customer names, account numbers and email addresses to steal their identity.

"We still think that the violation is very serious," said Rotenberg.

Monitoring was not always common. TJX Companies initially refused to offer the service after it disclosed a violation of important data in 2007, but eventually offered three years of monitoring for some customers as part of a settlement of a class-action lawsuit.

Now the offers are more standard. Other documents from Maine delineate a myriad of other breaches of the data to dozens of companies, universities and other organizations. In many cases, companies mentioned that would free credit monitoring as part of their response, such as when the RiverSource funds unit of Ameriprise Financial said a former employee was unable to return the electronic devices containing client names and social security numbers.

(Edited by Steve Orlofsky)

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Oil, world stocks tumble on signs of dismal economy (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters)-oil prices plunged, falling global stocks and euro shred more than 1.0 percent Thursday after the news of disappointing private sector activities in Europe and China, coupled with an increase in unemployment claims of the United States, sent a shiver through the global financial markets.

Exacerbating fears of slower growth were expected from the International Energy Agency to release 60 million barrels of oil from the strategic inventories.

"It could be a signal to their overall level of concern about slower global economy," said Omer Esiner, senior market analyst at Commonwealth Foreign Exchange in Washington.

Further diminished and European equities and debt prices of Government on both sides of the Atlantic extended gains after initial claims for State unemployment benefits rose more than expected last week.

Gold fell almost 2.0 percent to hit lowest levels in nearly and the euro hit an all-time low against the Swiss franc as anxiety for Greece and a slowing U.S. economy dampened the investors ' risk appetite and encouraged an offer for security.

The euro fell 1.3% to $ 1,451, the lowest level in about a week and also hit a new record low at 1.1873.

"The claims (jobless U.S.) just added fuel to the fire here ... you two months now stuck in this range and they just won't budge. That is certainly a disappointment, "said Frank Lesh, a futures analyst and broker at FuturePath Trading LLC in Chicago.

Compounding the worry, the private sector in the euro zone grew only modestly, and would be reduced without the support of Germany and France, while the sector of China barely extended even as inflation eased, purchasing managers ' indices (PMI) has shown.

The data comes a day after the Federal Reserve of the United States said that the pace of recovery of the United States was proceeding more slowly than it had expected, but no new aid for its economy, once the purchase programme of its link expires this month pledged.

"Bernanke's Outlook cautious (President Ben) and persistent turmoil for the American economy that could linger until the end of the year, including concerns about Greece, hit market sentiment," said David Watt, senior currency strategist at RBC Capital Markets in Toronto.

World stocks as measured by the MSCI World equity index of all countries were down 1.1 percent, leaving the index plate so far this year.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 166.76 points, or 1.38 percent, to 11, 942.91. The stock index & Poor Standard of 18.01 was down 500 points or 1.40%, to 1, 269.13. The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 35.95 points or 1.35 percent, to 2, 633.24.

Brent crude oil Futures and United States extended losses in volatile trading after the Labor Department report showed initial claims rose 9,000 to a seasonally adjusted 429.000. Economists had expected claims to come in at 415,000.

In London, ICE Brent crude oil for August delivery fell $ 109.06 $ 5.15 per barrel. The New York Mercantile Exchange, the August contract fell $ 4.08 91.33 per barrel.

Gold spot fell from 1.99% to a minimum of 1 session, $ 518.40 per ounce. Prices later barred a little $ 1, 524.46.

Treasury of the United States cut short an early advance after the IEA announced that it would release of strategic crude reserves.

The United States Treasury note of 10-year benchmark price was up to cede 2.92% 16/32.

Bunds had already earned after signs of a slowdown in growth in the euro area has raised fears about the ability of Greece and other countries to combat the debt crisis.

Bund Futures rallied to a session high of 35 126.56, the ticks of the day, pushing yields of 10 years to 2.92%.

(Additional reporting by Steven c. Johnson and Robert Gibbons in New York; Lucia Mutikani in Washington; Jonathan cable, Kirsten Donovan and Brian Gorman in London; Written by Herbert Lash)

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Raw materials largely fall on concerns about the economy (AP)

Commodity prices fell sharply Thursday on further evidence of a slowdown in the global economy and a decision of a group representing 28 countries to release emergency oil supplies in the market in an attempt to lower prices.

The decline came across the Board. Oil is down 4.6 percent, silver fell 4.7%, gold lost 2.1 percent and heating oil fell 5.8 percent.

There were indications of weaker economic growth in China, United States and Europe.

In the United States, the number of people who applied for unemployment benefits last week rose unexpectedly, indication of weakness in the labour market. That came a day after the Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said problems plaguing the economy may be worse than initially thought.

Meanwhile the production grew more slowly in June in China and Europe, according to the Purchasing Manager indexes compiled by HSBC and Markit economics.

Oil prices dipped after the International Energy Agency, which includes the United States and other countries, 27, said he would release 60 million barrels of oil from the emergency stocks for a period of 30 days to try to stave off higher prices of energy that could strain the global economic recovery. Half the supply is by the United States

"There are certainly concerns to go ahead, economic growth," said Dave Meger, vice President of metals trading at vision financial markets. "And, equally important, the idea that there is no hint of any type of stimulus to be ... supplied by the Fed."

Benchmark crude for August delivery fell $4,39 to settle at $ 91.02 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In other Nymex contracts, heating oil fell 17.15 cents or 5.8 percent, to settle at $ 2.7994 per gallon, gasoline dropped 15.24 cents to $ 2.7764 per gallon and natural gas dropped to $ 12.4 cents per 1,000 cubic feet 4,193.

August gold fell $ 32.90 to settle at $ 1 an ounce, 520.50 and September Palladium fell to $27,30 or 3.5 per cent, to $ 743.35 an ounce.

July contracts in metals, silver fell $ 1,737 or 4.8%, to settle at $ 35,002 ounce, copper fell 4.9 cents per pound to $ 4,039 and Platinum fell $57,90, or 3.3%, up to 1, $ 694.50 per ounce.

Cereals and beans also dropped. September wheat fell 4 cents to settle at $ 6.6925 a bushel, corn December fell $ 6.46 4.25 cents a bushel and November soybeans fell cent to $ 15.25 13.1725 bushel.

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Asia moves to tap oil reserves (Reuters)

TOKYO (Reuters)-Asian Nations moved to release emergency oil stocks on Friday as part of a rare global action coordinated by consumer countries to prevent high energy prices of the wonderful a stuttering economic recovery.

The move, led by Washington and criticized by the oil industry as an unnecessary distortion of markets, suggests a fundamental change in the industrialized nations to intervene in the markets of raw materials as an instrument of economic policy.

Brent oil prices cutting back up on Friday after tumbling to a four-month closing low on Thursday, reflecting doubts that the unexpected decision by the International Energy Agency of 60 million barrels to release during the next month would have a long-term impact.

Japanese economy Minister Kaoru Yosano said the move was a warning to speculative buyers, but oil Minister s. Jaipal Reddy of India questioned that the action would have an impact.

"Even if there is a slight increase in production (supply), these gains will not be available to us because of the unbridled speculation on financial markets in the world," he said. "We don't know if this (weaker oil prices) is a stable trend."

The release of Commons is only the third in the history of the Agency which was established as a counter weight exporting Group OPEC 37 years.

Asian IEA members, Japan and Korea has said that next week will begin releasing the oil reserves in line with the objectives of the Agency.

Japan will cut the reserve requirement for oil companies from 7.9 million barrels over the next 30 days and South Korea will release 3.46 million barrels, which together provide approximately 19 percent of the target of the IEA.

Australia and New Zealand, the remaining members of the Asia-Pacific region, are participating.

The news follows a group of 20 agreement, struck in Paris on Thursday, transparency and coordination of the food market policy to tackle soaring food prices by boosting farm output.

The G20 deal is another sign that global policymakers are reaching beyond the traditional instruments of economic policy to sustain global growth.

The world economy, was recovering from the 2008-2009 financial and economic crisis, showed signs of losing traction in recent months and the Federal Reserve acknowledged that this week cut its forecast of growth in the world's largest economy.

The costs of raw materials of high that SAP the spending power of consumers and squeeze profit margins of producers are accused of much of the slowdown.

SCARCE OPTIONS

Industrialized Nations managed to pull their economies from the brink of depression by distribution of trillions of dollars in stimulus packages and reducing borrowing at record lows.

But that left rich economies from Japan to the United States with huge debt and some policy options if they were to weaken once again their economies.

While the release of oil was led by United States and other developed nations, booming emerging powers like China and India also are set to benefit who seek to contain stubbornly high inflation without sacrificing too much growth.

"To a certain extent, that will help you to reduce certain Asian countries facing inflation pressure and is also good news for the global economic recovery," said Gong Jialong, former President of an organ which represents the body of China's petroleum industry.

Gong and others, however, opposed the move which will increase the supply of approximately 2.5 percent currency market intervention. It's not something that could reverse a trend, but it might help prevent excessive price moves.

"The impact hoped for is not to cause a downward trend in commodity markets, but rather to prevent potential increases resulting from increased demand third quarter, said PFC energy consulting company with offices in Washington.

Seasonal demand ramps up oil in the third quarter as refineries prepare for winter in the northern hemisphere, when the peak heating according to consumption.

Another factor, suggesting that the IEA decision will impact only short-term prices is that oil is an incremental increase in demand now that many countries are turning from nuclear energy production after the crisis of Japan, said a Japanese Government official.

"Demand for fuel will increase globally with more countries able to rely on nuclear power, the more that initially had hopes."That means prices have more reason to climb over the decline, he said. He declined to be identified because he is not allowed to speak to the media.

JPMorgan Chase, however, said that even some cooling effect of prices would be a boon for the world economy.

"If our projections are made, the release of the IEA provides the equivalent of a stimulus of 140 billion dollars for consumers," it said in a statement. "The release will prove to be challenging for the global economy, particularly in the United States and emerging markets."

DEEPEN CONSUMER CONCERN

The IEA's decision was the culmination of a plan that President Barack Obama set in motion more than a month ago and show concern for discussion among rich Nations on the economic damage from high energy costs.

Obama drew immediate criticism from the oil industry and Republicans, who called it an inappropriate misuse of stocks that risks leaving the Government with less ammunition should a deeper crisis of supply to emerge.

Oil prices have increased 20 percent last year, pushing the prices of gasoline retailing U.S. $ 4 a gallon.

While Brent crude oil reached over $ 125 in April, has since fallen sharply. After dropping a further 6 percent on Thursday, prices are only slightly higher in mid-February, just before the Libyan conflict began.

The IEA said the action would fill shortages caused by the conflict and Libyan oil quickly get to the market while Saudi Arabia makes good on his promise to pump more oil.

The 28-nation Agency will decide whether to release more oil in a month.

The two previous releases followed by abrupt shortage caused by the first Gulf war in 1991 and by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and the global response was swift. In this case, it was more than 3 months from the moment of Libya's exports stopped.

The United States will provide 30 million barrels from its huge-727 million barrel crude reserve, about 1.5 days of consumption of the United States, with Europe providing 30 percent in crude and refined products and the rest from OECD Nations.

(Reporting by Rie Ishiguro and Leika Kihara in Tokyo Cho Mee-young in Seoul, Rob Taylor in Canberra, his ancestor Beckford in Wellington, Simon Webb in Singapore, Lan Xin Shou and Wang to Beijing and Nidhi Verma in New Delhi; Editing by Neil Fullick)

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Budget talks suspended for bolts of Cantor on charges (AP)

WASHINGTON-efforts to find a bipartisan agreement mixing huge budget cuts with a measure of wort to increase as the Government can borrow entered a new phase, after negotiators Republicans pulled out of the talks, led by Vice President Joe Biden.

The release of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor from talks Thursday means that the most difficult decisions were hunted upstairs at the GOP House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio and President Barack Obama. The group led Biden had made progress in solid weeks of negotiations, but was at an impasse over taxes.

Cantor, R-VA., said the Republican-dominated House simply will not support tax increases and that it's time for Obama to weigh directly because Biden and Democrats were insisting on tax increases. Democrats said it was just blend in additional revenue arising from tax cuts to balance trillion dollars in spending cuts.

It was long Assumed that the Biden would set the stage for more conclusive talks involving Obama and Boehner. Therefore, the Cantor's move was interpreted as trying to start talks rather than blow them up — a vision shared by Cantor.

"The purpose here is to alter the dynamics," said Cantor.

In fact, Cantor's withdrawal came after Boehner had already made a trek to the White House — in a secret meeting Wednesday night that followed on a golf outing at the weekend. For its part, Cantor did not inform Boehner his decision to leave the talks until Thursday, shortly before the news, said a GOP official familiar with the situation. The official requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information.

The White House has tried to put a positive spin on developments.

"Like all of us at table said at the beginning, the aim of these talks was to report our results back to our respective leaders," Biden said in a statement. "The next step is in the hands of those leaders, who must determine the scope of an agreement capable of tackling the problem and attract bipartisan support. For now the talks are suspended as expect Guide. "

Senate Republican negotiator, Jon Kyl of Arizona, released also talks.

For its part, Cantor said that the talks secretive Biden headed "established a blueprint for meaningful agreement on expenditure cuts.

One of the byproducts of Cantor's departure was to provide an opportunity for the partisans on all sides to make statements disagree with the positions that may need to take to reach an agreement. Democrats insist that requires at least some new entries — both to soften cuts costs and align the Democratic votes needed to pass the measure.

"It will take for Democratic votes to pass any agreement on debt-ceiling," said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-n.y. "as a result, certain things are going to have to be true. We cannot make cuts to Medicare benefits. We must allow for revenues as wasteful subsidies to ethanol companies and oil. And we must do something on jobs ".

"President Obama must decide between his goal of higher taxes or a bipartisan plan to address our deficit," said Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, R-KY. "Can't have both".

With regard to democratic demands for new initiatives to "work" deficit financed, McConnell derided: "what planet they are on?"

Cantor said that a lot of progress has been made in identifying potential trillion dollars in spending cuts to accompany the legislation to raise the CAP 14.3 billion on Government's ability to borrow money. Passage of legislation this summer is necessary to meet the obligations of Government Bond holders the United States. The alternative is a market-shaking, the first default U.S. obligations.

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Fundamental for the reform of custody risk retention: Treasury (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters)-regulators want to ensure that mortgage lenders keep some risk on the loans they originate, as is crucial to strengthen the housing finance system, a senior Treasury official said on Friday.

"We are committed to implementing reforms risk retention so thoughtful that ensures a constant access to mortgage credit for borrowers with low and middle income and protects the health of the housing market still fragile," Treasury under Secretary Jeffrey Goldstein said in remarks prepared for delivery at the Conference of mortgage.

"Best practices for underwriting mortgages are good for consumers, good for the financial industry and good for the economy," said Goldstein.

The Treasury is involved in implementing requirements from reform bill Dodd-Frank Wall Street for curbing recruitment at financial firms. He invited the Federal regulatory legislation to establish new guidelines for lenders and originators of loans securitized, the types of tools that has fueled the financial crisis of 2007-2009.

The proposed rules are intended to reduce risk-taking forcing lenders to take on a share of 5 percent loan bundled for investors in the secondary market. Regulators proposed an exemption for so-called qualified residential mortgages when borrowers make payments down 20 percent.

Critics say that the rules would keep potential buyers first time out of the real estate market and drive up borrowing costs because lenders would charge higher rates for the loans that do not qualify for exemption. A commentary on the rule proposal expires on August 1.

The new rules are proposed jointly by six federal regulators: the Federal Reserve, the Department of housing and urban development, the FDIC, the Federal Housing Finance Authority, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Office of the Comptroller of the currency.

An unlikely Alliance of mortgage and consumer groups-including the American Bankers Association, the Center for responsible lending and the national Community Reinvestment Coalition-have submitted a petition to make changes and regulators say the proposal could make it harder for borrowers to find affordable home loans.

Goldstein said regulators were trying to balance access to credit with strengthening the resilience of the housing finance system. Risk retention rules are "important" part of that effort, he said.

"Fundamental Flaws of the securitization market and the original model to deploy were a key factor for the housing bubble that helped plunge the worst recession since the great depression," said Goldstein.

He said that the final rule will address the main problem seen in financial crisis: a "lack of alignment of interests between the creators and securitizers compared to investors". (Reporting by Margaret Chadbourn; Editing by Ramya Venugopal)

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China's Wen says prices under control: report (Reuters)

London/BEIJING (Reuters)-Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao played his most optimistic this year on the fight against inflation Beijing, saying that he expects the price pressures to decline steadily as the country maintains its vibrant economic growth.

In an opinion piece published in Friday's Edition of the newspaper Financial Times, Wen wrote that it was "confident price increases will be firmly under the control of this year", and that China is "fully capable of sustaining economic growth steady and fast".

Wen's comments came as he kicks off a tour in Europe affected by debt and a timely response to investor concerns that China, in its struggle to tame close to three years of high inflation, could tighten monetary policy to the detriment of economic growth.

"There is concern, if China can curb inflation and bolster its rapid development," said Wen. "My answer is an emphatic yes."

"China has made capping price increases the priority of macroeconomic regulation and introduced a series of policies. These have worked, "he said.

"The general price level is included in a controllable range and should fall steadily".

But some analysts said it was too early for China to declare victory in the fight against inflation and investors cautioned against thinking that Wen was signaling an imminent change in monetary policy.

Lu Ting, an economist at Merrill Lynch-Bank of America, argued that Wen could have deliberately sounded so positive as he knew that he was addressing foreign readers of the Financial Times.

In Chinese culture, there is a tendency to play up the accomplishments, when it comes to the outside world and the pendulum swing the other way to underscore the challenges when talking about one of your own, Lu said.

"Readers should read the article with a grain of salt," he said. "Despite these positive messages from Wen, could be wrong to expect the Chinese Government to change its political position soon."

Lu said it still expects China to raise interest rates again this year. That is more or less in line with market forecasts for a rise of 25 basis points in benchmark lending rates and an increase of 50 basis points of deposit rates.

On the global economy, Wen said that he was recovering from turmoil seen in financial crisis, but said many uncertainties remained, and that the recovery was fragile.

He pointed to uneven global growth, stubbornly high unemployment in developed economies, mounting debt risks and inflationary pressures.

"While the shock of the crisis is still in the end, new risks have emerged," said Wen. "The world must cooperate closely to meet the challenges."

LOOKING AT RATE RISE YET

Latest comments on inflation in China Wen were marked a shift from his comments in March, when he warned about the growing expectations of inflation and price compared to a tiger that is difficult to cage, once it is left out.

China's inflation raced to a 34-month high of 5.5% in the year to may and should accelerate to 6 percent in June or July.

That would be well above the inflation target 2011 China's 4 percent, did not mention that Wen on Friday.

Some analysts have noted, however, that the official inflation target of China's malleable that certain objectives may violate the Central Bank. For example, Beijing has for years defeating the objective of economic growth of 8 percent.

Because wages in China are expected to rise in coming months and a stubbornly buoyant property market that has kept housing prices to record levels, economists doubted China can rest easy in its anti-inflation campaign anytime soon.

"Inflation could peak in June or July, but there are many underlying factors which could push up prices as labour costs and inflation of the agricultural product," said Hua Zhongwei, an analyst with securities Huachuang in Beijing.

Still, shares of Hong Kong and Shanghai rebounded Friday morning after Wen's remarks on inflation. Shares in China were among the worst performers in Asia this year on persistent concerns of further tightening policy to combat price pressures.(.HK)

(Reporting by Paul Hoskins in London, Koh Xin Gui Qing and Zhou in Beijing; Editing to Jacqueline Wong)

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EU to pressure Greece amid talks of toppling of Bank (Reuters)

Athens/Brussels (Reuters)-new Greece's Finance Minister met EU officials and the IMF Thursday to address gaps in its austerity plans with EU leaders, insisting that tough measures are taken in exchange for financing to avoid bankruptcy.

Euro-zone Governments are meanwhile constraints banks and insurers to keep exposure to Greek sovereign debt when their bonds mature as part of a planned rescue according to Athens.

Inspectors from the International Monetary Fund and the European Commission, European Central Bank has met Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos in an attempt to smooth out differences on the bailout program, which wants to change to appease an angry public.

"There is a gap of 3.8 billion euros out of the total package of 28 billion that should be discussed with the troika," a legislator who took part in a parliamentary Committee with the Minister told Reuters. Athens has approved a five-year austerity plan 28.3 billion in tax increases, spending cuts.

Officials say Venizelos, promising a fairer tax system, would backpedal on plans to lower the threshold of income tax and to raise oil-heating sets that would create a financing gap.

While not against changes in principle, there must be robust, credible alternative measures to bridge the gap, said an EU source.

The stakes are high with signs of economic slowdown in emerging Europe even without the threat of a Greek default and the contagion that would follow.

"The risk of a severe financial crisis and the beginning of a new recession are very high right now," Jyrki Katainen, officially sworn in as Minister Wednesday, was quoted as saying by public broadcaster YLE.

Combination batting and moral support, EU leaders gathering in Brussels say Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, who will release the next 12 billion euros (US $ 17.2 billion) in emergency aid, on 3 July, to prevent running out of money, provided the Athens Greek Parliament adopts key economic reforms in a crunch vote in Parliament next week.

Senior official EU economic, Olli Rehn, said Europe was ready to help Greece return to economic growth, "but the first thing is that Greece must help itself, so that other Europeans can help Greece. This is the bottom line. "

While Papandreou expressed confidence for the public vote, the Slovak Minister Iveta Radicova said he had expressed doubts in a private phone call Wednesday.

"Papandreou has serious doubts whether the necessary steps will in Parliament," said the Slovak Radicova the European Affairs Committee of Parliament.

The Greek crisis is set to dominate EU Summit, the fourth this year, as the 27 leaders grope for a solution to the debt woes that have forced the Greece, Portugal and Ireland to seek bailouts.

There are no any formal decision on Greece, but the rally will be monitored intensively by financial markets for any message you send to the EU if the plan can work.

Investors are skeptical. Five-year credit default swap on the Greek government debt 138 basis points has risen to 2.025 bps, according to Markit data monitor, implying a more than 80 percent probability of default during that period.

The US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Wednesday that much more than the future of Greece was at stake.

"If there were a failure to resolve this situation, would pose threats to the European financial system, the global financial system, and drive European politics, would guess, well," he said.

Default is Greek would force European banks and Governments take large losses, spread the infection to other sovereigns eurozone stressed and potentially plunge the economy of the world's largest trading bloc in the world, already slowing, into recession.

GET BANKS ON BOARD

Papandreou's reshuffled the Government won a confidence vote in Parliament earlier Wednesday, one of several obstacles on the path to avoid a default.

On 28 June, Parliament will vote on a package of privatization, tax increases and spending cuts and Finance Ministers of the eurozone will review progress on 3 July to release the next tranche of loans.

Despite calls EU and IMF to Greek political leaders to unite behind the program, all opposition politicians voted against the Government a vote of confidence, and 20,000 protesters chanted insults outside Parliament.

EU leaders Conservatives were planning to exert strong pressure on the Greek opposition leader Antonis Samaras, to support the bailout in a pre meeting on Thursday.

Although Greece is able to convince the EU and the IMF is fully committed to making budgetary adjustments, this will buy has asked the Government just truce of a few months and most economists expect will eventually by default.

Greece accepted a package of 110 billion euro of EU/IMF loans in May 2010 and now needs a second bailout of similar dimensions to its financial obligations until the end of 2014, when it hopes to return to the capital markets for funding.

Euro area Member States, led by Germany, insist every second aid package should include the involvement of the private sector. But the rating agencies said they would treat a voluntary rollover of debt default is selective, potentially starting a chain reaction of turbulence on the markets. ? "We are working on a solution that is based on a voluntary rollover and I predict that it will create a credit event," said Rehn.

The meetings on Wednesday, banks and insurers in Germany, France, Spain and Belgium were invited by the national central banks to roll over their Greek debt voluntarily when the bonds mature, said banking and Government sources.

French-Belgian Banking Group that Dexia is ready to roll the exposure to Greek debt, the largest Belgian Bank, adding to the list of banks prepared in principle to take part in a financial source said.

The medium-term economic reform agreed by Athens provides for the collection of 50 billion euros by selling state companies and includes 6.5 billion of spending cuts and tax rises in 2011.

Although Greece reaches its objectives-and has already lost many still won't be able to manage their own debts, amounting to 150 percent of gross domestic product.

(Additional reporting by Martin Santa in Bratislava, Deighton and Robert-Jan Bartunek, in Brussels, George Georgiopoulos and Lefteris Papadimas in Athens; Written by Mike Peacock, editing by Janet McBride)

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Lagarde, job offers top of the IMF (AFP)

WASHINGTON (AFP)-French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde made his case to become the next leader of the IMF, vowing to promote reforms to make the lender most representative power of the global economy.

Lagarde said he had "productive" one on one meetings with IMF Executive Directors beginning Wednesday and Thursday in Washington, a three hours before the interview with the Council to 24 members in the afternoon.

The 187-nation needs to "continue its move toward responsive, even-handed and balanced action in support of global economic and financial stability, the better to serve the entire membership," he said in a statement to the Board of Directors.

"I'm not here to represent the interests of each region of the world, but rather the entire membership," he said.

Lagarde is the front-runner in the race to the top left vacant after IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn resigned on 18 May to fight allegations of sexual assault in New York. Strauss-Kahn denies the accusations.

Only rival of Lagarde, Governor of the Bank of Mexico Agustín Carstens, admitted the possibility that Lagarde to be elected by the Board "are quite high."

Lagarde has the support of Europe, which holds 24 seats in the Executive Council and seven, and the Council hopes to select the new CEO of consensus.

Under a tacit agreement between United States and Europe, the IMF leadership has always gone to a European while the top job at the World Bank has always gone to an American.

The United States, the largest stakeholder with IMF about 17 percent of the votes, not endorsed publicly Lagarde or Carstens, considered a candidate emerging.

Lagarde met with US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner Thursday morning before heading to the interview.

Geithner "believes strong leadership qualities of that Minister Lagarde and experience makes her a great candidate for IMF Chief Executive talent," Treasury spokesperson Natalie Wyeth said.

"Reaffirmed once again its appreciation for strong candidates who came forward, particularly at this critical time for the global economy," he said.

Lagarde emerged from the headquarters of the IMF after the hearing of the Council looking relaxed.

"I believe that the Fund should be more responsive, sicuramente more effective and more legitimate," said a gaggle of journalists waiting.

"And that really involves many potential improvements but also the continuation of the reforms that have been undertaken by my predecessor," he said, his word choice for compatriot Strauss-Kahn suggested she feels confident about his selection as the new boss.

Lagarde said the IMF was a "remarkable" with an "exceptional".

"Should become more responsive, more involved, more legitimate with respect to the integration of its 187 members. In any case, that would be my goal, "he added. "It is now for membership to decide."

The Board of the IMF has set a tight deadline to fill the top job: 30 June.

The Executive Committee meets Tuesday, with the goal of reaching a decision "by consensus," according to the IMF, but in the event of a deadlock that will decide by majority vote.

The announcement of the new CEO could come before the deadline next Thursday, IMF spokesman David Hawley said.

Interview of Lagarde with the following on the heels of two days of Carstens at IMF. The Council also had a three-hour interview on Tuesday and the IMF released its statement to the Board of Directors.

Lagarde, 55, would be the first woman to head the IMF headquarters in Washington, which oversees the global financial system and provides emergency loans to countries members of middle and high income.

A lawyer by training, who was also the first Director General of the IMF that was not an economist.

His rival Carstens, 53, is an economist who worked at the IMF, including a stint at number three, Deputy Director General, from 2003 to 2006.

Lagarde addressed head-on, as European criticism, would have a conflict of interests in dealing with the involvement of the IMF in Greece's financial Rescues, Ireland and Portugal.

"I am the record for having supported a process of selection, regardless of nationality. Consequently, the French and European should be an advantage or a handicap, "he said in his statement to the Board of Directors.

The IMF said no date has been set for the next Director.

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Tiffany replaces CFO, adds the title of COO (AP)

NEW YORK-retailer Tiffany jewelry & co. is replacing its Chief Financial Officer since longtime executives reshuffles and adds a position of chief operating officer.

The company says that 45 years Patrick f. Mcguinness will replace James Fernandez 55 years as Finance Director.

Fernandez is taking the newly created position of chief operating officer and McGuiness will continue to report to him.

The moves are effective immediately.

McGuinness has been with Tiffany since 1990 and was most recently senior vice president of finance. Fernandez joined the company in 1989 and has served as CFO from 1998.

Tiffany and other luxury brands are doing well as the sector bounces faster than others. Its profit in the first quarter was up the 25 per cent on higher income through all regions of the world in its most recent quarter.

Its shares fell 79 cents to $ 75.64 morning trading Thursday.

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French official: confident Dragons will head the ECB (AP)

Brussels – a senior official said EU leaders confident will appoint Mario Draghi, Presidency of the European Central Bank at their summit Friday — a move that would give investors some certainty over who will lead the institution in its role against Europe to paralyse the debt crisis.

The timing of the appointment of Dragons were came under doubt as fellow Australian Executive Board Member Lorenzo Bini Smaghi has so far refused to leave his post. But until their next meeting in September would have highlighted divisions between EU leaders, delaying the appointment, who struggled to find a common line on debt-stricken Greece and the best way to contain the financial crisis that has forced Ireland and Portugal also in need of massive bailouts.

The concern of Paris was that France would not have a representative on the Executive Board of the ECB once the current head of the ECB Jean-Claude Trichet departs on 31 October. The French had previously implied that it would support only Dragons if a French or a woman takes the place of Bini Smaghi.

The official did not say how the differences would be ironed out. He spoke on condition of anonymity because the decision was not final.

Another European official has also said the appointment of Dragons probably would come on Friday.

The ECB has played a central role during the debt crisis that has plagued the eurozone 17-country over the past 18 months or so. For example, Trichet ignored criticism from some of the more hawkish officials at the Bank, when he advocated a program of buying bonds multibillion euro intended to ease the pressure on the most indebted countries.

The ECB has provided massive amounts of liquidity for European banks since the beginning of the financial crisis.

More recently, the ECB found himself in a difficult position to raise interest rates to keep a lid on inflation above target even if euro-zone economies weaker remain weak.

The decision on Dragons is expected a day after EU leaders gave their clearest sign yet that Greece will get a second bailout in coming weeks, on top of euro110 billion last year.

"We agreed that there will be a new program for Greece," said German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The strongest language on aid for Greece was also made possible debt after inspectors from the EU and the International Monetary Fund has reached a final agreement with the Government Thursday in Athens, the value of euro28 billion for new austerity measures.

Measures must be approved by the Greek Parliament, next week for bailout funds be released. If lawmakers do not back the package, then Greece will probably be setting a default on its debts.

Even if it gets a second rescue plan, many economists believe that Greece will have to restructure its debts in some form or in the coming years, especially if the economy shrinks further.

__

Angela Charlton contributed to this story.

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Wall Street reversed sharp sell-off after Greek deal (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters)-stocks closed off session Lows so Thursday on news Greece agreed to an austerity plan for five years, but lingering economic uncertainties ultimately led S & P 500 less, while maintaining a downward trend.

Nearly 30 percent of the daily volume traded in the last hour. That coincided with the turnaround in the market and news of Greece, which laid the basis for a resolution of credit problems in Athens that have hurt investor sentiment around the globe.

"The agreement on the austerity plan, which is really what has the market going," said Paul Hickey, co-founder of bespoke investment group of Harrison, New York.

The question now remains if the soaring end day is a harbinger of renewed interest in buying or if it was only a pause before sale returns in the coming days.

"We're going title for title, which is typical of a market pullback," said Hickey. "There is a lot of tangible evidence for investors to go now."

S & P 500 fell in less than a half-point of its 200-day moving average-a line the Bulls were able to hold since last September. Technical analysts monitor that level as an indication of the long-term trend, and a tight consistency under it could trigger sell more.

"It is certainly positive and encourages people," said Hickey.

Sources with knowledge of the talks told Reuters that Greece has won the support of a team of inspectors from the European Union and International Monetary Fund for his new austerity plan of five years after committing a further cycle of tax increases and spending cuts.

The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) fell to 59.67 points, or 0.49 percent, to end at 12.050. The Poors 500 (Standard &.SPX) lost points 3.64 or 0.28%, up to 1, 283.50. But the Nasdaq Composite (.17.56 IXIC) earned points, or 0.66 percent, to close at 2, 686.75.

An analysis on measurement showed that the S & P 500 posted the strongest comeback in nearly a year, in the days when the benchmark fell more than 1 percent. From its session low, the index rose more than 20 points in closing.

Dow swings covered 233.79 points intraday low to high session. For the second straight day, the Nasdaq managed to finish the session in positive territory for the year.

MICRON AND ORACLE LATE AUTUMN

After the closing bell, Micron Technology (MU.O) actions fell nearly 13 percent as the company's quarterly revenue fell short of expectations.

Oracle Corp. (ORCL.O) fell 3.3 percent share in extended trading as investors were disappointed that beat his profit estimates with a narrower margin than in recent quarters.

Earlier in the day, markets were sold during the regular session as oil's slide to a trimester down triggered declines in a market already bad after comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Wednesday on a recovery of economic slowdown.

Skepticism remained despite the deal Greek as details were not yet known and any agreement still had to win a vote in Parliament.

"When is 3 hours on a Thursday afternoon and short sellers see this title (affair of Greece), they cover questions before and after," said Peter Boockvar, equity strategist at Miller Tabak & Co in New York.

He said, since there was already a plan pending a vote, the difference might be a change in terms that might make it easier to move to the Parliament in Athens next week.

U.S. crude oil Futures settled at $ 91.02 a barrel, down $4,39 or disable 4.6 percent, after the International Energy Agency said it will release 60 million barrels of strategic oil stocks. For details, see

The slide in oil prices was exacerbated by a rise of 0.7 percent in US dollar index (.DXY), which tracks the performance of the greenback against a basket of major currencies. In times of stress, the flight to safety that pushes the top dollar makes oil more expensive, undermining further the demand for crude and other commodities priced in dollars.

Give some support to the market, oil prices tumbling raised an index of stocks of airlines (.XAL) of 2.4%.

Bets that the lower prices at the pump will open the wallets of consumers boosted the retail sector index P (S &.RLX) by 1.4 per cent.

S & P BOUNCING KEY SUPPORT

Bounce & P's 500 outside its 200-day moving average was the second in a week. Last Thursday, a brush with that level enticed buyers and the reference index closed in black for the day. The 200-day moving average now coincides with the intraday high of 262.60 1, 2010, giving extra support.

"What it means is that if you make trading momentum, you can place bets, and a lot of big money is doing, momentum trading," said George Feiger, CEO of Contango Capital Advisors in San Francisco.

"But the story of the big picture remains the same. We are looking at the growth of small and very small return in stocks for the coming years. "

His view differs from median of 46 respondents equity strategists in the last week, which showed an expectation of an increase of 11 percent in the S P 500 & for the year, which would take 1,400.

Economically, the United States claims for unemployment insurance rose more than expected last week, suggesting little improvement in the labour market. Other data showed sales of new homes fell in May.

About 8.31 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, NYSE Amex and Nasdaq, above the average so far this year of 7.57 billion.

Declining stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the New York Stock Exchange in a ratio of 17 to 13. But on the Nasdaq, about seven rosa stocks fell for every six.

(Reporting by Rodrigo Campos; Further notification from Ashley Lau; Editing by Jan Pasquale)

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European stocks, euro fall on economic concerns (AFP)

London (AFP)-European shares fell Thursday after the Federal Reserve has downgraded its growth forecast, while downbeat U.S. manufacturing data raised concern about Chinese economy Asian powerhouse.

The euro fell against the dollar on concerns over the Greek debt crisis.

Around noon, in London, the FTSE 100 to 0.90% benchmark shed 5, 721.18 points. The Frankfurt DAX 30 slid 7% to 1.06, 200.99 points and in Paris the CAC 40 dipped 1.21% at 3, 824.47.

The dollar won support after the Fed, meanwhile, marked the end of its program of buying bonds this month and indicated further credit easing was unlikely. The euro fell to $ 1.4254 in London deals from $ 1.4349 late in New York on Wednesday.

Wall Street sank after the Federal Reserve left in neutral monetary policy on Wednesday and reduced its growth estimates, while the U.S. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke warned of economic turmoil that may persist for longer than expected.

"The weakness of the financial sector, problems in the housing sector, budgets and low-turbulence-some of these may be stronger or more persistent than we thought," Bernanke said.

Also warned of the potential risks to the global economy from the sovereign debt crisis in Greece.

Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) has also confirmed that the second round of the Bank's purchase of bonds will end this month as the current problems in the economy were temporary and would not need more stimulus.

Markets had been waiting to see what kind of new policies the Fed might continue after the end of June, when it expects to conclude his $ 600-billion second round of quantitative easing, nicknamed QE2.

"Sobering Words last night by Bernanke confirmed the fears of many in the market-economic recovery remains fragile and there is no further stimulus package coming for the moment," said merchant sales IG Index Yusuf Heusen.

Asian stocks mainly edged down Thursday as traders even poorer Chinese characters pores and cashed after a two-day regional events.

Growth in production of China fell to a low of 11 months of June, preliminary data showed on Thursday, HSBC published as Beijing's efforts to cool the Red-Hot economy has continued to bite.

Preliminary index of purchasing managers HSBC fell to 50.1 in June by a final reading of 51.6 in may, the British banking giant, he said, showing that the sector grew barely as authorities close restrictions on bank loans.

A reading above 50 indicates that the sector is expanding, while a reading below 50 indicates contraction.

"Chinese just expanded in June," said strategist City Index Joshua Raymond.

"A slowdown of growth in China is a growing concern among investors, especially those with displays of raw materials and resource equities.

"Of course, therefore, we have seen a move by investors to switch positions in the field of resources today, with the miners and oil companies most affected," he added.

In the United States, the Federal Reserve has cut its estimate of growth for the economy of the United States this year to a percentage of the 2.7-2 .9, from an earlier forecast of 3.3 -3.1 percent.

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Oil above $ 91 after IEA reserves the news release (AP)

SINGAPORE-oil prices hovered above $ 91 a barrel Friday in Asia after a sharp drop the day before when the IEA announced the release of emergency supplies of crude.

Landmark oil for August delivery was up 20 cents to $ 91.22 barrel at late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, Brent crude for delivery in August fell 53 cents to $ 106.73 per barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

Crude fell $4,39 to settle at $ 91.02 Thursday after the International Energy Agency said it will make available 60 million barrels for a period of 30 days, of which half will come from the strategic petroleum reserve of the United States.

Analysts said that the move probably reflects the growing concern that global economic slowdown and high oil prices accelerated exacerbate inflation and tepid consumer demand.

Earlier this week, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned that the u.s. economy is weaker than previously forecast and lowered growth estimates this year GDP to 2.9 percent from 3.3 per cent.

The IEA move "can alleviate concerns of tightening supply and demand and cause additional pressure of falling oil prices in the short term," ANZ Bank said in a report. "The softening of oil prices can be a significant advantage to boost global economic growth through the second half of the year."

The release of reserves comes also after OPEC decided not to increase production quotas at a meeting earlier this month.

Some observers were puzzled by the timing of IEA crude movement because he had already fallen by close to $ 115 on May 2 and Libya's 1.6 million barrels per day of oil output have been closed since February.

"IEA Announcement seems to be nothing more than a timely public relations stunt designed to punish speculators," said Richard Soultanian of NUS. "The impact will be short-lived and the markets quickly will return back to the model followed in recent months, which is closely following the movements of the dollar of the United States."

When the dollar gains, crude oil tends to fall because a stronger currency makes American raw materials like oil more expensive for investors with other currencies. When the dollar weakens, crude prices usually go.

The euro was steady at $ 1.4269 on Friday after falling Thursday.

In other Nymex trading in July, contracts, heating oil rose 1.3 cents per $2,79 a gallon, while gasoline dropped 0.5 cents per $2,83 a gallon. Natural Gas futures fell 0.2 cents per $ 4.19 to 1,000 cubic meters.

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Weak US relations, the Greek debt crisis Pushed the dollar (AP)

NEW YORK-the dollar rose Thursday against most major currencies after weak Us jobs and housing data, pointed to the recent economic slowdown. Anxious about Greece's debt crisis has helped Boost the dollar.

The u.s. economy is the largest in the world. Weaker growth here can damage the global economy. When investors anxious about a slowdown in global growth, they tend to bet on currencies which they consider less risky, as the yen, Swiss franc and the dollar.

The dollar is built on Wednesday's gains against the euro and British pound. In late afternoon trading Thursday, the euro fell to $ 1.4208 from $ 1.4376 late Wednesday. The pound fell to $ 1.5987 from $ 1.6085. The dollar rose to 80.58 yen by 80.32 yen.

Federal Reserve Chairman ben Bernanke said Wednesday that the economy was growing more slowly than it had expected the Central Bank, but said the Fed did not plan a new bond purchase programme to support the economy. This program, if approved, would likely weigh on interest rates, weakening the dollar's appeal to investors.

On Thursday Government reports highlighted concerns of Bernanke for the housing market and jobs. The Labour Department said applications for unemployment benefits rose by 9,000 to 429.000 last week, the largest increase in a month. This means that more and more people are looking for help after being fired from their jobs. Separately, the Commerce Department said that sales of new homes fell 2.1 percent in the month of May to 319.000.

The debt crisis in Europe also weighed on the euro. European Central Bank Jean-Claude Trichet said that Europe's debt problems could spread across the continent. If Greece cannot implement austerity measures, the European Union and the International Monetary Fund have threatened to hold a lot of emergency loans due in July and Greece may default if it doesn't get the aid. That could set off a European banking crisis and affect other countries with debt problems, such as Ireland, Portugal and Spain.

Other Trading Thursday, the dollar rose to 97.99 Canadian cents from 97.23 cents. Meanwhile, the dollar dipped to 0.8388 Swiss francs from 0.8392 Swiss francs.

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EU leaders appoint Dragons ECB President until 2019 (Reuters)

Brussels (Reuters)-EU leaders have formally appointed Mario Draghi of Italy to be the next President of the European Central Bank, draft Summit conclusions EU showed on Friday.

The decision clears the way for Dragons, 63, to take over from Jean-Claude Trichet when French steps at the end of October, after eight years in the job.

"The European Council appointed Mr Mario Draghi, Chairman of the European Central Bank from November 1, 2011 to October 31, 2019," showed a draft conclusions obtained by Reuters.

In a press conference late Thursday, Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Council, said that the Dragons had not been discussed during the first day of a two-day summit but that his appointment was on the agenda of talks Friday.

In recent weeks, French officials had expressed concern about the appointment of Dragons, worried for Italy to finish with two members of the Executive Board of the ECB. Lorenzo Bini Smaghi is already on the six-member Panel that sets interest rates, with 17 other euro zone Central Bank Governors.

French officials had suggested that Bini Smaghi should replace Dragons as head of the Italian Central Bank, paving the way for a French person be appointed to the Board of Directors.

In April, Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi promised French President Nicolas Sarkozy that Italy would yield place to Bini Smaghi on Board of the ECB to a French candidate, in exchange for France's support for the President of Dragons.

The problem was that Berlusconi did not first consult Bini Smaghi, whose eight-year mandate ends in may 2013 BCE. Bini Smaghi has refused to leave, creating a situation of discomfort for Berlusconi that remains unresolved.

Officials said the wait time was that Italy would solve the situation with Bini Smaghi when Dragons takes over in November, although it is not clear how.

While Dragons, a highly respected economist and banker, won widespread support for his candidacy in recent months, there were doubts early in the process his nationality and occupation with Goldman Sachs (GS.N) might obstruct its path work best Europe's central banks.

In appearances before the European Parliament's Finance Committee, the Dragons made it clear that his role at Goldman Sachs, between 2002 and 2005 did not involve the sale of financial instruments but was largely a consultative position.

He also stressed his experience in the financial stability Oversight Board of Europe and emphasised the common thinking that he shares with Trichet on monetary policy and the risks to the financial system of a failure to address Greece's debt crisis.

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H & R Block posts drop of 5 percent in 4th-qtr profit (AP)

NEW YORK – H & R Block Inc. said Thursday that its fiscal fourth quarter profit fell 5 percent, as revenue fell and the company booked charges relating to his loss of his programme of loans secured by repayment.

After the largest tax preparation company in the nation has lost its business loan repayment due to regulatory decisions, has shifted his attention to strengthening its offering of online tax preparation and younger customers with free tax preparation simple form of targeting. The moves paid off in helping h & R Block gain market share in the quarter. Block prepared 21.4 million income this year, 6.5 per cent by 2010.

While the free tax preparation service has helped lower income during the quarter, the company claims that it has created a pool of new customers that can be converted to return preparation more expensive in the years to come.

The latest quarter included other major changes for the company based in Kansas City, mo. .. Activist investor Richard c. Breeden resigned as President at the end of the season this year sets and block in April named former eBay Executive William c. Cobb as new President and CEO, replacing Alan Bennett, who is retiring in September and a member of the board

Block said it earned $ 658.6 million, or $ 2.14 per share, in the quarter ended April 30, including charges of 6 cents per share, related to the legal fight on his loan refund-anticipation at the end of 2010. That compared with net income of $ 690.8 million, or $ 2.11 per share in the prior year period. Earnings per share increased due to the company buying back shares during the year.

Revenue slipped slightly to $ 2.33 billion from $ 2.34 billion last year. Revenue increased slightly in its Division of tax services business services revenues — but its advice RSM McGladrey — fell 6 percent.

Analysts on average had forecast adjusted profit of $ 2.14 per share on $ 2.32 billion, according to data provided by FactSet.

Chief Financial Officer Jeff Brown said in an interview that the company invested a good amount of effort to improve its products online to make them more attractive to customers in its tax preparation and marketing expertise.

Growth in both retail stores, which added 500,000 customers, and through its digital products, which added 800,000 customers with DIY preparation line, skipping the 29 percent. That was a significant gain, because digital products of rival Intuit's TurboTax lag Inc.

He pointed to the earnings of the retail store as important, especially following the loss of guaranteed loans to repay.

"We are entering the season really tax-favoured," he said.

Brown added that the growth of the customer, in particular among young customers attracted by free block preparation of forms 1040EZ, bodes well for the future. The company claims that these customers as their incomes grow older and become more complex and more expensive, I'll stick with the block.

Reflecting the promotion free 1040EZ, average fee for returns prepared block retail fell more than 3 percent to $ 182.96 for the 2011 season, compared to $ 189.25 for season 2010.

Digital remains an area that the company has targeted for growth.

CEO Bill Cobb, during a conference call to discuss the results, said the block plans to fight the Government's recent move to prevent the company's planned acquisition of privately held 9ha Holdings Inc., which makes the tax prep software TaxACT.

The Department of Justice filed an antitrust lawsuit last month to block attempts to buyout 287.5 million. Government lawyers say that a tie would leave only two companies, and Intuit, control more than 90 percent of the market of tax software.

"H & R Block is committed to the transaction TaxACT remained," said Cobb. "Combining H & R Block and TaxACT will do exactly what the Justice Department wants to make the competition a digital market currently is dominated by one player, Intuit."

The CEO said the blockade and TaxACT "vigorously pursue" litigation against the Justice Department and is seeking a preliminary injunction hearing before the end of September.

Cobb also addressed the issue of loans, written by drive alveoli of subprime mortgages, now called sand Canyon Corp.

Investors are worried that the company could be hit with suits demanding that buy back many of the loans written before the unit was closed in 2007 and may not have sufficient reserves to cover such claims. The unit has seen new claims for us $ 55 million during the fourth quarter, on a par with the previous quarters. Cobb says "confident that sand Canyon will continue to handle all requests, and we believe that the process will not affect h & R Block."

For the fiscal year, said net income fell 15 percent in the 406.1 million or $ 1.31 per share, from $ 479.2 million or $1,43 per share, in the prior year. Adjusted for miscellaneous charges, operating profit came to $1,52 per share.

Revenue for the year fell to 3 percent to $ 3.77 billion, from $ 3.87 billion.

In e-commerce aftermarket, block shares added 8 cents to $ 16.15, from their regular session close of $ 16.07.

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Exclusive: Deutsche Cooking of top trader sparks probe (Reuters)

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NEW YORK (Reuters) – In the fall of 2009, Deutsche Bank quietly fired one of its top derivative traders in London after a colleague in New York complained about finding "substantial trading anomalies" in a multibillion dollar portfolio of high-risk credit default swaps managed by the German-based bank, Reuters has learned.

The bank dismissed Alex Bernand after a quick internal investigation prompted by the employee's complaint led to the discovery of improper trading in one of Bernand's personal brokerage accounts, according to documents seen by Reuters and interviews with people familiar with the situation.

The documents, part of a Sarbanes-Oxley whistleblower action filed against Deutsche in May 2010 by the employee in New York, also reveal that the Securities and Exchange Commission opened an inquiry last year into a related allegation that some of the assets in the derivatives portfolio overseen by Bernand may have been improperly valued in order to hide trading losses.

Deutsche bank spokeswoman Renee Calabro declined to comment on Bernand's dismissal. But she said the allegation that some assets in the bank's derivatives book had been improperly valued was investigated by the bank and is "wholly unfounded."

The SEC investigation and Bernand's October 2009 firing, neither of which has been previously reported, come as Deutsche is aggressively winding down the portion of its derivatives trading business that Bernand had overseen. Earlier this month, the bank reported in an investor presentation that its plan to unwind its "high-risk" credit correlation portfolio "is well ahead" of schedule. The bank first announced a plan to begin "de-risking" some of its derivatives trading desks in late 2008.

In January, Deutsche settled the whistleblower case by agreeing to pay $900,000 to trader Matthew Simpson and promoting him to managing director shortly before he voluntarily agreed to leave the bank in April. It was the largest Sarbanes-Oxley whistleblower settlement for a complaint filed in 2010. Simpson, who now works for Rochdale Securities in Stamford, Connecticut, did not return a phone call seeking comment.

UNFOUNDED ALLEGATION

"This complaint, which is over a year old, has been the subject of a thorough investigation, and we believe that any allegations about financial misreporting are wholly unfounded," said Calabro, who declined to comment on the terms of the settlement with Simpson. "The bank is cooperating with the SEC on its review of the matter."

An SEC spokesman declined to comment.

Bernand, who lives in France, also declined to comment. On his LinkedIn profile, Bernand describes himself as an "independent philanthropy professional."

Simpson's and Bernand's names were redacted from the whistleblower documents seen by Reuters, but their identities were confirmed by two people familiar with the situation.

In its settlement agreement with Simpson, Deutsche also denied "any wrongdoing in connection with the matter." In light of the settlement, the U.S. Department of Labor in February closed its investigation into Simpson's claim that he had been retaliated against by some of his superiors for bringing the allegations of improper trading to the attention of the bank's compliance department.

The firing of Bernand, a one-time rising star in the derivatives world, is something of an embarrassment for Deutsche. In 2006, the bank issued a press release to trumpet his hiring from Bank of America as its global head of credit correlation. At BofA, Bernand had pretty much built the Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank's structured credit trading business from scratch.

Inside Deutsche, the portfolio that Bernand oversaw from London was called the "exotics book," because many of the derivatives in the portfolio were tied to complex securities. At its peak, the portfolio was one of the largest on Wall Street with the assets underlying the trades valued in the tens of billions of dollars.

ILLUSORY PROFITS

The bank's credit correlation desk specialized in using credit default swaps to make proprietary trades that were aimed at hedging some of the bank's exposure to potentially risky corporate bonds, leveraged loans, currencies, indexes and commercial paper. Many of the trades put on by correlation traders involve synthetic collateralized debt obligations (CDOs), financial instruments that use credit default swaps to get exposure to various bonds and other assets.

Some have blamed credit default swaps -- a type of derivative that is supposed to provide a level of insurance against an underlying asset going bad -- with exacerbating the global financial crisis because they increase the level of risk on balance sheets of the world's major banks. However, the synthetic CDOs traded by the correlation desk were not like the more popular variant of CDOs which were stuffed with subprime mortgage securities.

Janet Tavakoli, a Chicago-based derivatives consultant who has written several books on credit derivatives and structured products, said many bank managements did not fully appreciate the illusory nature of the trading profits being generated from derivatives correlation desks before the financial crisis. She said those profits often disappeared and turned into losses when the underlying assets turned south.

"The thing about correlation desks is that it will appear you are making a lot money from trades, but it is all money at risk," said Tavakoli. "I call this kind of trading an invisible hedge fund."

In an early 2010 regulatory filing, Deutsche attributed some of the rise in the bank's value-at-risk, or VAR, at the end of 2009 to a "recalibration of parameters in the Group's credit correlation business."

On Wall Street, VAR is one metric used by a bank to estimate how much money it could conceivably lose in a day if all of its trading bets and hedges went awry. It's an imperfect measurement, but one followed by most industry analysts.

A person familiar with Deutsche said the bank is winding down the credit correlation desk to both reduce its risk profile and better comply with the so-called Volcker Rule's ban on proprietary trading in the United States.

The bank's internal investigation into Simpson's allegations was overseen by the big New York law firm Fried Frank.

The revelation that the SEC is investigating the valuations used for some of Deutsche's derivatives portfolio comes at an awkward time. Over the past few months, the bank has taken some high-profile lumps for its role in contributing to the financial mess.

A Senate report released in April faulted Deutsche for continuing to churn out collateralized debt obligations and other securities backed by subprime mortgages even as the housing market in the United States was starting to crumble. The report from the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations said Deutsche aggressively marketed CDOs to its client, "despite the negative views of its most senior CDO trader" about the failing health of the housing market.

Just last month, federal prosecutors in New York filed a civil suit against Deutsche, claiming its MortgageIT subsidiary repeatedly lied about the quality of the mortgages it was issuing to obtain federal guarantees on those iffy home loans. The government seeks to recoup some $1 billion in losses it incurred from insuring the mortgages. Deutsche contends most of the problem loans were issued before the bank acquired MortgageIT in 2007.

Before filing his whistleblower complaint last May, Simpson had built a long track record at Deutsche. Over the dozen years he worked for the bank in New York, he held positions in finance, risk management and then trading. He joined the firm's correlation trading group in 2008 and was responsible for trading derivatives tied to bonds and currencies.

In his whistleblower complaint, Simpson said when he reported his concerns about trading improprieties to Deutsche's compliance department he "expressed concerns for future retaliations."

Among the acts of retaliation that Simpson alleged were being passed over for a promotion in February 2010 and later "stripped" of all his trading and management responsibilities. Calabro said the bank denies Simpson's claim of retaliation.

(Reported by Matthew Goldstein; Editing by Michael Williams and Claudia Parsons)

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U.S. new home sales fall in May (AFP)

WASHINGTON (AFP)-U.S. new home sales fell 2.1 percent in the month of may, the Commerce Department said Thursday, indicating that the weak property market was still weighing down the world's largest economy.

Sales of new single-family homes, were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 319.000 in may, down from the revised April figure of 326.000, the Commerce Department said in a monthly report.

The may figures were better than analysts ' consensus estimate of 305.000 and figure magazine in April a slight improvement over the original estimate of 323.000 Department of Commerce.

Still, the overall level remained disappointingly low, pointing to continued weakness in the housing market, a pillar of the US economy will improve for the broader economy recover.

"The housing market remains the weak point of the current recovery as families are still deleveraging and remain cautious about making a commitment to long-term debt in the context of high unemployment and slow economic growth," said Inna Mufteeva, an economist with Natixis.

2007-2008 the collapse of us real estate market after many years of rising prices was of fundamental reasons why the global economy into recession with tip.

On Tuesday, the National Association of Realtors reported that sales of existing homes in the United States were dropped 3.8 per cent in May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.81 million.

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Live Chat: Tuck MBA Admissions (BusinessWeek)

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Dartmouth College's Tuck School of Business (Tuck Full-Time MBA Profile) in Hanover, N.H., accepted 20 percent of the 2,528 people who applied to the full-time MBA program in 2010.A priority is keeping the community small and tight-knit so faculty and administrators can offer personalized attention to students, says Dawna Clarke (screen name: DawnaClarkeTuck), director of admissions at Tuck. Recently, she fielded questions about the program from the public and from Bloomberg Businessweek reporter Francesca Di Meglio (screen name: FrancescaBW). Here are edited excerpts of the conversation:

YHmac: What importance does your undergrad transcript have in the application?

DawnaClarkeTuck: The admissions process is a holistic one. We look at a wide range of criteria and undergraduate performance is one of them. We'll consider your overall performance -- if there was an upward trend, the rigor of the classes, the extent to which you wereinvolved -- and any extenuating circumstances. You can also take post-baccalaureate courses to make up for a poor undergraduate GPA.

Springer: Could you explain how much weight is placed on entrance-exam scores?

DawnaClarkeTuck: My answer would be somewhat similar to the one regarding the undergrad GPA. It's truly a holistic process and factors such as the GMAT are one of many that are taken into consideration.

My advice: The GMAT is a test in which preparation pays off. Most applicants take the test two to three times, and we'll look at the highest score. We also accept the GRE.

Springer: How much prior business experience do you like to see?

DawnaClarkeTuck: The average of prior business experience tends to be more than four years. However, the range is typically two to 20 years. It's the quality of a person's experience (and how they present it in the interview, essays, and application) that matters more than the quantity ofexperience.

We have found that our recruiters are more likely to hire those MBA candidates with significant (meaning at least two years) experience before the MBA. Prior work experience really adds to the richness of the classroom experience for your peers as well.

fd10: What subjects would you recommend for post-baccalaureate courses to supplement a lower-than-average GPA (particularly if we've already taken calculus)?

DawnaClarkeTuck: I'd recommend courses that a) are relevant to the MBA curriculum and b) you haven't already taken. Some examples would be accounting, business statistics, finance, or economics. There are many evening classes at universities in major metropolitan areas, which make it more feasible when you're working full-time.

MAB: How important is the GMAT score for international applicants -- let's say Indians, who I believe apply in huge numbers. Also, since eliminating people on scores alone is quite easy, isit the first criteria for elimination?

DawnaClarkeTuck: We never eliminate a candidate based on a low GMAT score. We're fortunate in that we're a small school and every applicant is reviewed thoroughly regardless of the GMAT score. India is quite impressive in terms of its educational system, so we tend to see very strong GMAT scores from students from India, but the range of admitted GMAT scores from India is in sync with the general range.

pwing: What international study opportunities does Tuck offer?

DawnaClarkeTuck: We love to see applicants who are interested in global opportunities. In fact, we added a new question on the application several years ago about "global mindset." We have many international opportunities through a multitude -- 19 to be exact -- of study-abroad programs (and) for-credit field projects in international locations. And the on-campus Tuck curriculum is quite international. A large percentage of the cases andclass discussions have an international component.

About 33 to 35 percent of our student body is comprised of international students, so much of the informal learning takes place through cross-cultural interactions. We also have a very impressive Center for International Business, which orchestrates a myriad of opportunities on campus (such as the annual India and China conferences) as well as events and programs around the world. Check out the international business center on our Web site.

Springer: Are there admissions representatives available on weekends?

DawnaClarkeTuck: The reason why admissions representatives aren't available in Hanover on weekends is primarily because we're on the road quite a bit on weekends in the fall. However, we have several on-campus recruiting events in the fall on weekends, such as the Women in Business Conference, which is Nov. 4-Nov. 5 in 2011 and the Diversity Conference, which is Nov. 11-Nov. 12 . There's anapplication process for each of these conferences, so please see the website if you are interested. We also have two summer visitation programs for those who want to visit sooner rather than later.

Springer: Is there an optional program for working executives?

DawnaClarkeTuck: Tuck doesn't offer a degree-granting executive MBA program. However, we do have a multitude of executive programs. One you might be interested in is called TEP (Tuck Executive Program), which is a four-week program offered every summer.

FrancescaBW: What options are there for international students in need of a co-signer?

DawnaClarkeTuck: Our international loan program does not require a co-signer.

Springer: Is it possible to attend Tuck and work full time?

DawnaClarkeTuck: It's really not possible to attend Tuck full time and to work full time, but good for you for being so ambitious. I don't know of anyone who has ever done both and I definitelywouldn't recommend it. Having done half my master's degree full time and the other half while working full time, I think a student gets so much more out of the full-time experience, if that's at all possible for you to do.

jbates: I recently read a piece on HBS selecting more applicants with engineering/technology backgrounds versus financial backgrounds. Is Tuck similarly looking to expand a certain demographic?

DawnaClarkeTuck: I read the same article. No, we are not shifting our focus on experience. Tuck is a general management program, and we definitely want a class that is well-represented in terms of the breadth of industries.

MAB: Are applicants with international experience given preference in terms of evaluation of their work experience, assuming all other parameters are almost the same?

DawnaClarkeTuck: One of the admissions criterion is "global mindset." We interpret this broadly. Some demonstrate this through previoustravel or study-abroad programs, some have taken extensive language training or have work experiences. It's not a requirement, but we like to see that an applicant has some global experiences or interest in developing this area.

Jbates: I also know Dartmouth has a great engineering school. Is there an opportunity for a joint or dual degree, or could a student work engineering electives into his or her schedule?

DawnaClarkeTuck: Dartmouth's engineering school is very strong, and "yes" to all of your questions. It's a very marketable combination to have an MBA and some engineering skills.

FrancescaBW: This comes from someone who couldn't join us. How would you compare and contrast the benefits associated with Tuck's learning model -- which appears to aim for a balanced approach featuring case studies, traditional lectures, small group projects, and other teaching methodologies -- as opposed to a school such as Darden, whereyou also spent some time, which uses case studies exclusively?

DawnaClarkeTuck: I think Tuck differentiates itself in several ways. One is our scale and focus. Tuck only offers a two-year, full-time MBA degree program. The faculty, staff, and administration are solely focused on our full-time students.

This focus, coupled with the scale (roughly 250 to 270 students in each entering class), allows us to deliver a very personalized experience. Yes, it's true that we use a variety of teaching methods, including cases, experiential learning, the first-year project, lectures, and a heavy emphasis on the learning that takes place in study groups. In the second year, there are new opportunities to take a very "deep dive" in small group seminars as small as 12 students on subjects such as the economics of the financial collapse.

FrancescaBW: What's your best advice for applicants who want to stand out with the admissions committee?

DawnaClarkeTuck: There are so many answers (to this question). Before you begin tackling the application itself, really spend some time reflecting on what you are most proud of regarding your previous experiences, accomplishments, and who you are. Then think of ways to communicate those experiences to us in a way that really illustrates your themes. For example, it's great to have a story that illustrates why you feel you are an inspirational leader.

Different applicants "shine" for different reasons. Some have impressive experience in a unique industry, others have motivated people to accomplish something impressive, some stand out academically. I think stories and vignettes are a very effective and memorable way for us to get a sense of what you have to offer. I also think the application process (as daunting as it might seem) can be a great opportunity to reflect on your strengths and to reinforce all that you have to offer.

MAB: How do you judge thework experience of candidates with different firms in a similar domain? Do you prefer stronger brands when the applicant pool is huge?

DawnaClarkeTuck: We're very familiar with the typical career paths at many of the well-known firms. While name-brand recognition can help in some cases, there are many successful applicants each year from lesser-known firms. I think the key is educating the admissions committee (through your application and interview) of a) what your firm does and b) what impactful role you've played within the organization. It's one of the things that keeps it so interesting for us. We're constantly meeting people from all walks of life who do interesting things. Educating us on your firm is key.

jbates: Do most Tuck students have a charted career path or would you characterize the student body as more generalist? What are the merits of either approach?

DawnaClarkeTuck: Most students who seek a part-time or evening MBA are"career enhancers," and most students who seek a full-time MBA are "career switchers." I think one of the benefits of the MBA is to explore industries and functional areas that you haven't even considered. At Tuck, our placement office does a great job of bringing in companies for briefings to expose you to the multiple opportunities for MBAs. I think many come in with an idea of what they think they want to do and some change their minds, given the exposure Tuck provides.

jbates: Are there any statistics on how many Tuck graduates start their own companies?

DawnaClarkeTuck: Tuck is known to be a school that cultivates future entrepreneurs. If you look at the stats right after graduation, they are going to be significantly lower. But long term, about 60 percent of our alumni eventually start or acquire their own businesses.

MAB: How do you see the job market for international students in the United States? With the economy in a downturn,do the recruiters prefer natives?

DawnaClarkeTuck: Great question and great assumption, but the good news is that both in 2011 and 2010, our international student placement rate was equally as high as the rate for domestic students. By the way, Tuck's placement rate last year was ranked No. 1 among our peer group.

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