| Two murders and two life sentences won't alter one convict's ...
It offered testimony from former loyalists George Will, Robert Novak, The Wall Street Journal editorial page, the Family Research Council's Web site and the Eagle Forum's Phyllis Schlafly claiming "Bush is alienating his political base" by becoming "just another free-spending, big-government politician." Bush-bashing from the right has almost become a trend. By month's end, Bruce Bartlett will be the trend's poster boy. On February 28, Bartlett's book Impostor: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy will arrive in bookstores, adding its author to the growing list of conservatives who are lashing out at the president for his being what Bartlett calls "a pretend conservative [who] has more in common with liberals, who see no limits to state power as long as it is used to advance what they think is right." The book's publication will officially brand him as the kind of conservative Al Franken and Jon Stewart could love: a true believer who has lost the faith, a conservative out to melt the party's Big Cheese.
Big profit tipped for BHP
BHP Billiton is expected to deliver a strong interim profit tomorrow, and likely formalise its massive takeover offer for rival Rio Tinto. BHP Billiton's first half profit for fiscal 2008 is set to eclipse the previous corresponding result of $US6.168 billion ($A6.84 billion), analysts say. ABN Amro analyst Warren Edney is forecasting a profit of $US6.3 billion ($A6.99 billion) and says investors will be looking for an update by the resources giant on impact of flooding in Queensland on its coal operations and power issues in South Africa. "BHP may be able to quantify the impact of the floods and I think that will be relatively important," Mr Edney said. "The other key thing will be seeing what they say about the issues of southern African power." Last month, heavy rain in central Queensland forced the closure of a number of coal operations, while electricity shortages in South Africa have disrupted a number of different operations in the country.
Sandler and Rock nationalisation
Shareholders are voting too on whether the newish chairman, Bryan Sanderson, and some recently recruited non-executives should remain in place. If they were voted off, the Treasury would regard that as a sign that the company is now ungovernable - and that nationalisation had become the least worst option. A decision will also be taken imminently by the Treasury on whether competing proposals for a commercial solution to the Rock's ills are worth pursuing. The Chancellor would prefer not to take this business into formal public ownership. But if all the competing deals turn out to be either impossible or prohibitively expensive, Mr Sandler would find that he had taken on a huge and challenging job. That momentous nationalisation decision is probably only days away.
Sensex slips in early trade
At 10:05 am, the Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex was down 216 points or 1.19 per cent at 17,859.92
Bharti Airtel (down 2.53%), BHEL (2.48%), ICICI Bank (2.2%), HDFC (2.08%) and NTPC (1.91%) were the biggest index losers. Bajaj Auto (up 1.61%), Satyam Computer (1.61%), Infosys Technologies (1.17%), Wipro (1.02%) and Tata Consultancy Services (0.47%) were the major gainers. The National Stock Exchange's Nifty was down 61 points or 1.15 per cent at 5220.25.
“We had a gap up opening Tuesday, but lost around 1 per cent from the day's high. The discount in the Nifty February futures also widened to 20 points from 4 points. We will see profit booking coming at these levels, but Nifty might find support at 5150 levels," UTI Securities said in a note.
The brokerage recommends buying HCL Tech, Mphasis, Sasken, and Tech Mahindra expecting them to outperform the market in the near term.
Commexes told to liberalise delivery format
MUMBAI: Commodity markets regulator Forward Markets Commission (FMC) has asked the futures exchanges to relax the delivery parameters and permit deliveries outside the demat format. Demat is a system where securities like shares, debentures and even commodity futures are converted from the physical form into electronic data and stored in the computers of a depository.
FMC chairman BC Khatua feels that the demat system is not ideal for commodities. He suggested that investors should be allowed to keep their material in their own godowns if they choose to do so. This could be either because they want to avoid the incremental costs of transferring to exchange-approved warehouses, or lack of storage space in exchange warehouses. Currently, this is not permitted by exchanges when deliveries have to be carried out.
NBC Turns Upfront Into ‘Spotlight’
David Cone, who hurled a perfect game in 1999 and helped win four World Series, is back in pinstripes as an analyst for the Yankees Entertainment & Sports Network. Following the YES press conference, Multichannel's Mike Reynolds asked Cone about the transition from playing the game to commenting on it. .
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