“Even though the yuan has been controlled in a tight range,
there are more advantages for China in letting the yuan
appreciate than depreciate,” said Wang Yu-ming, head of
fixed-income in Asia at Manulife Asset Management.”A rise of 4 percent to 5 percent in the RMB in the next two
years is inevitable,” he told a media briefing on the new fund.Demand for offshore yuan bonds is expected to remain strong,
reflecting investors’ optimism that the yuan will rise.The dim sum bond market reached 120 billion yuan ($18.8
billion) so far this year, three times the total of the previous
three years combined, Manulife said.The new fund, which is priced in Taiwan dollars, will pick
investment grade dim sum bonds. Manulife Asset Management has
raised about $150 million in Taiwan from its U.S. dollar dim sum
bond fund launched in July.
* Mayor says his office not involved in the decisionBy Michelle Nichols and Paul ThomaschNEW YORK, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Anti-Wall Street protesters
claimed victory on Friday when plans to clean the park they
occupy were postponed, while police forces in financial
capitals around the world braced for a weekend of rallies.A planned cleanup of the Lower Manhattan park that has been
home to the Occupy Wall Street movement since Sept. 17 was
delayed just hours before it was due to begin by Brookfield
Office Properties, which manages the publicly accessible park.The move averted a possible showdown between police and
protesters who viewed the cleanup as a ploy to evict them.
Protesters loudly cheered the decision, and several hundred set
off marching toward the city’s financial district.Police arrested 14 people, but there were no widespread
disruptions.”This development has emboldened the movement and sent a
clear message that the power of the people has prevailed
against Wall Street,” Occupy Wall Street said in a statement,
estimating more than 3,000 people had gathered in Zucotti
park.New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, in his weekly radio
address on Friday, said his office was not involved in the
decision to postpone the cleanup.”My understanding is that Brookfield got lots of calls from
many elected officials threatening them and saying, ‘If you
don’t stop this, we’ll make your life much more difficult,’”
said Bloomberg, who added that he did not know which officials
had called the company.Protesters are upset that the billions of dollars in U.S.
bank bailouts doled out during the recession allowed banks to
resume earning huge profits while average Americans got scant
relief from high unemployment and job insecurity.They also argue that the richest 1 percent of Americans do
not pay their fair share in taxes.Many protesters feared the cleaning would be an attempt to
shut down the movement that has sparked solidarity protests in
other cities.RATS AND ROACHES?Bloomberg said Brookfield wanted a few more days to try to
reach an agreement with the protesters, who have undertaken
their own efforts to clear debris from the park.Meanwhile, authorities in New York, London, Frankfurt,
Athens and elsewhere braced for demonstrations on Saturday.Rallies were planned in some 71 countries, according to
Occupy Together and United for Global Change.Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney, in an interview with
Canadian national broadcaster CBC, expressed sympathy with the
protesters.”I understand the frustration of many people, particularly
in the United States. You’ve had an increase of inequality,”
said Carney, a former Goldman Sachs banker, noting “a big
increase in the ratio of CEO earnings to workers on the shop
floor.”In New York, organizers planned demonstrations in Times
Square and Washington Square Park. Protesters will also march
to JPMorgan Chase bank branch to withdraw their money.”Its going to be big, its going to be global,” said David
Sierra, 23, a carpenter from Queens.A group of Occupy San Diego protesters scuffled with police
on Friday as authorities sought to clear camping equipment,
tables, signs and other gear from a downtown public square in
the southern California city.Police used pepper-spray on about a half-dozen protesters.In Denver, at least 21 people were arrested on Friday and
tents were removed from the Occupy Denver protest.Protesters in New York had spent much of the previous night
tidying the park themselves, in hopes of keeping out
Brookfield, a major real estate company that counts Bloomberg’s
girlfriend Diana Taylor among its board members.”We clean up after ourselves. It’s not like there’s rats
and roaches running around the park,” said Bailey Bryant, 28,
an employee at a Manhattan bank who visits the camp after work
and on weekends.
* Samsung tablets infringe Apple patents-judge* Apple has a problem establishing patent validity-judge* Apple must show both patent infringement and validityBy Dan LevineSAN JOSE, Calif., Oct 13 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge said
Samsung Electronic’s Galaxy tablets infringe Apple
Inc’s iPad patents, but also that Apple has a problem
establishing the validity of its patents.The comments from U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh came on
Thursday in a court hearing on Apple’s request to bar some
Galaxy products from being sold in the United States.Apple and Samsung are engaged in a bruising legal battle
that includes more than 20 cases in 10 countries as the two
jostle for the top spot in the smartphone and tablet markets.Earlier on Thursday, an Australian court slapped a
temporary ban on the sale of Samsung’s latest computer tablet
in that country.Apple sued Samsung in the United States in April, saying
the South Korean company’s Galaxy line of mobile phones and
tablets “slavishly” copies the iPhone and iPad.Apple then filed a request in July to bar some Samsung
products from U.S. sale, including the Galaxy S 4G smartphone
and the Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet.Mobile providers Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile USA have opposed Apple’s request, arguing that a ban on
Galaxy products would cut into holiday sales.Apple must show that Samsung infringed its patents and that
its patents are valid under the law.Samsung attorney Kathleen Sullivan argued that in order to
defeat an injunction bid, Samsung need only show that it has
raised strong enough questions about the validity of Apple’s
patents.”We think we’ve clearly raised substantial questions,”
Sullivan said at the hearing on Thursday in a San Jose,
California federal court.Apple attorney Harold McElhinny said Apple’s product design
is far superior to previous tablets, so Apple’s patents should
not be invalidated by designs that came before.”It was the design that made the difference,” McElhinny
said.Koh frequently remarked on the similarity between each
company’s tablets. At one point during the hearing, she held
one black glass tablet in each hand above her head, and asked
Sullivan if she could identify which company produced which.”Not at this distance your honor,” said Sullivan, who stood
at a podium roughly ten feet away.”Can any of Samsung’s lawyers tell me which one is Samsung
and which one is Apple?” Koh asked. A moment later, one of the
lawyers supplied the right answer.Additionally, at the hearing Koh said she would deny
Apple’s request for an injunction based on one of Apple’s
so-called “utility” patents.She did not say whether she would grant the injunction
based on three other Apple “design” patents.Koh characterized her thoughts on the utility patent as
“tentative” but said she would issue a formal order “fairly
promptly.”“It took a long time to make that distinction,” Koh said.After the hearing, Samsung spokesman Kim Titus said Apple’s
injunction request is “groundless.”Apple spokeswoman Kristen Huguet said, “It’s no coincidence
that Samsung’s latest products look a lot like the iPhone and
iPad … This kind of blatant copying is wrong, and we need to
protect Apple’s intellectual property when companies steal our
ideas.”The case in U.S. District Court, Northern District of
California is Apple Inc v. Samsung Electronics Co Ltd et al,
11-1846.
* Alcoa drops after results, PepsiCo shares up* Dow up 1.4 pct, S&P 500 up 1.6 pct, Nasdaq up 1.2 pctBy Caroline ValetkevitchNEW YORK, Oct 12 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks jumped 1 percent
on Wednesday, pushimg the Dow into positive territory for the
year, as the euro-zone rescue fund was set to get approval
from all EU members.Momentum buying was partly in play, analysts said. The S&P
500 has gained 13.5 percent from the intraday low hit last
week on Tuesday and was on track for its largest seven-day
rally since March 2009.”It feels as though the market is experiencing the
possibility of a melt-up,” said Hank Smith, chief investment
officer of Haverford Trust Co. in Philadelphia.”You’ve got a lot of money on the sidelines that just
didn’t want to take the risk of being invested. That could
come back in.”Slovakian lawmakers struck a deal to ratify more powers
for the euro zone’s rescue fund, known as the EFSF,
effectively ending a crisis that threatens the euro’s survival
and which has weighed on stocks and other risky assets for
months.Slovakia is the last country in the 17-member currency
zone left to approve the revamped EFSF.Bank shares led the advance again, with the KBW Bank Index shot up 4.1 percent. Citigroup gained 6.2 percent
to $29.54.The Dow Jones industrial average was up 159.92
points, or 1.40 percent, at 11,576.22. The Standard & Poor’s
500 Index was up 18.51 points, or 1.55 percent, at
1,214.05. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 31.46
points, or 1.22 percent, at 2,614.49.The S&P 500 traded above 1,200 for the first time in three
weeks, taking the benchmark near the upper end of a range it
has been stuck at since early August.If the index is able to stay above resistance at 1,215,
that would be seen as a bullish signal, analysts said.Among earnings, PepsiCo Inc rose 3.7 percent to
$63.19 after it reported slightly better-than-expected
earnings and affirmed its full-year target.
But Alcoa Inc fell 2.5 percent to $10.04 and ranked as
one of the biggest drags on the Dow, a day after reporting
results.
By Michelle NicholsNEW YORK, Oct 12 (Reuters) - The Occupy Wall Street
movement protesting U.S. economic inequality will target a
JPMorgan Chase skyscraper on Wednesday, as the number of
rallies on U.S. college campuses planned for Thursday grew to
at least 90 schools.Protesters, who say the richest 1 percent of Americans do
not pay their fair share of taxes, are directing their anger
and frustration at JPMorgan Chase’s high-profile chief
executive Jamie Dimon.They are demanding that New York state extend a so-called
millionaires tax due to expire at the end of the year, saying
that more than $400,000 back in Dimon’s pocket if the tax is
allowed to end.Organizers said they want to tell Dimon that New York needs
the extra revenue for “our schools, our subways, our human
services, and for new public investments to create jobs and
build a more prosperous future for all of us.”Average chief executive pay in the United States is 142
times that of lower-ranked employees, according to Thomson
Reuters ASSET4 data. British bosses pull in 69 times more than
their workers while egalitarian Sweden has an average gap of
only 34 times.Organizers said the number of colleges set to rally in
solidarity on Thursday grew by half overnight to at least 90,
as the movement builds ahead of global protests planned for
Saturday.UNIONISTS SUPPORT RALLIESOffice cleaners will also protest in New York’s Wall Street
financial district on Wednesday afternoon in a march for good
jobs organized by the Service Employees International Union.Since Sept. 17 protesters have camped out in a park in
Lower Manhattan near Wall Street, rallying against billions of
dollars in bailouts banks received during the financial crisis,
which pushed the U.S. economy into recession.Despite the taxpayer-funded bailouts, banks recovered
quickly to earn huge profits while average Americans suffer
high unemployment and job insecurity with little help.About 500 protesters took to Manhattan’s upscale Upper East
Side neighborhood on Tuesday, marching past the homes of Dimon,
hedge fund manager John Paulson, media mogul Rupert Murdoch and
David Koch, co-founder of energy firm Koch Industries.While Tuesday’s march was peaceful, hundreds of people have
been arrested in previous rallies in New York, and police have
used pepper spray on protesters. Demonstrators were arrests in
Washington, Boston and Chicago on Tuesday at protests inspired
by the Occupy Wall Street movement.According to Occupy Together, which has become an online
hub for protest activity, the Occupy Wall Street movement has
sparked rallies in more than 1,300 cities throughout the United
States and around the world.
* China stepped in to buy shares of its battered banks,
which have been caught in a selloff that analysts say reflects a
broader loss of trust in the integrity of corporate earnings and
government statistics.* NBA Commissioner David Stern canceled the first two weeks
of the season after two straight days of last-ditch negotiating
failed to resolve the labor dispute.* Samson Investment, a Tulsa oil-and-gas driller with
operations in hot U.S. shale-gas exploration regions, is
preparing for a strategic review that could include a possible
sale that could fetch as much as $10 billion.* Netflix dropped its plans to turn its DVD service
into a separate business. It is sticking by its pricing plan,
though.* Asian shares were higher, with regional banking stocks
underpinning gains following a Franco-German pledge to resolve
Europe’s banking and sovereign debt problems. The Nikkei climbed
2.3 percent.* A private-sector advisory board to the White House is
pressing the administration to streamline regulations and
encourage start-up activity among recommendations to boost job
creation.* To raise the funds needed to complete an aggressive
network buildout, cover debt payments and support the iPhone,
Sprint Nextel likely will have to pay high interest rates
and may need to further mortgage its assets.* Preorders for Apple Inc’s iPhone 4S topped one
million in a single day, surpassing the company’s previous
records and setting the stage for another successful launch from
the U.S. electronics giant.* A high-profile hedge-fund firm run by three former Bear
Stearns traders is winding down its main funds after investors
pulled their cash, evidence that market turmoil is claiming some
big-name victims.* Cerberus Capital Management LP, which is being sued by
Innkeepers USA Trust for backing out of a deal to buy
most of Innkeepers’ hotels, is now in advanced talks on a lower
price for those properties, according to people familiar with
the matter.* Europe’s troubled financial sector showed further strains
Monday as the sovereign-debt crisis claimed its first banking
victim and banks in Austria and Greece showed signs of distress,
increasing pressure on euro-zone governments to come up with a
plan to restore confidence in their lenders.
