Red-Berry Day in Gaza, as Farm Products Leave for Europe
Gaza, Palestinian Territory (TML) – Um Hajjar Al-Ghalayini, 46 years old, owns half an acre of sandy Gaza land that produces two tons of strawberries every season. Since her husband died two years ago, the crop is the sole means of support for her nine children, mother-in-law and widowed sister, so every one of the bright red berries counts.
Last year, she had no choice but to sell her produce to the local market. That filled the Gaza markets with fruits and vegetables to the benefit of consumers, but for growers like Um Hajjar it was a disaster. Her earnings dropped by more than half and the family had a tough year economically. This week, as Israel took another step in easing its economic blockade of the Gaza Strip, Um Hajjar delivered her strawberries to the Kerem Shalom checkpoint on the Israel-Gaza border, their first leg of a journey to the more profitable markets in Europe.
“Now I can say that things are getting back to normal, if not on the right track,” she told The Media Line.
Exports of strawberries and flowers from the Gaza Strip to European markets began on Sunday, as part of a wide-ranging project coordinated by the Israeli army and local farmers and funded by the Dutch government. The current undertaking involves some 2.5 tons of strawberries and some 2,000 flowers, but Israel plans expanded facilities at Kerem Shalom and stepped-up security measures that will enable exports to grow more next year.
All told, about 700 tons of strawberries and 30 million carnations will be exported from Gaza by the time the season ends – in February for strawberries and May for flowers — Yousef Shaath, the project manager of the Dutch-funded Agricultural Relief Committee in Gaza, told The Media Line.
Strawberries are just one part of a gradual easing of the blockade Israel imposed on Gaza, a Mediterranean enclave of just 360 square kilometers (138 square miles), in 2007 after the Islamic militant group Hamas seized control. Israel used the siege to pressure Hamas, which unlike the Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority (PA) that rules in the West Bank, is sworn to Israel’s destruction and rejects peace talks.
While Israel and Hamas are still at loggerheads, Jerusalem has loosened some aspects of the blockade since nine people were killed last May when commandoes raided a ship trying to break the siege. As a result, Gaza’s economy will probably grow 8% this year, according to the International Monetary Fund.
While human rights advocates have focused on the pain caused by Israel’s blocking most imports, Gaza’s tiny economy has suffered by the ban on nearly all exports as well. According to the Palestinian Bureau of Statistics, Gaza’s exports plunged from $41 million in 2005 to $30,000 in 2006 and $20,000 in 2007. In 2008, virtually nothing left the Strip.
The business of export agricultural produce is fraught with politics, business and security issues. Before the first strawberries and carnations could be trucked into Israel, representatives of the Gazan agricultural associations met last week with an Israeli agriculture coordinator, a representative of the Israeli farm-export company Agrexco and the deputy ambassador of the Netherlands in Tel Aviv at the Erez crossing point between Gaza and Israel last week.
That is because the produce has a long and complicated route to get from fields like Um Hajjar and into a French housewife’s strawberry shortcake.
Hamas as the de facto ruler of Gaza had to approve the exports, but because Israel and the European Union don’t recognize the Islamic organization as the official government, representatives of the PA had to act as intermediaries. Indeed, at Kerem Shalom the PA will have an official presence as the produce moves over the border to Israel.
Israel will also need to deploy scanning machines that can x-ray cargo containers and ensure that terrorists or arms aren’t being smuggled out of Gaza. Israel has been wary about letting goods leave Gaza after two Palestinian teenagers infiltrated the Israeli port of Ashdod in 2004 by hiding in a shipping container. They blew themselves up, killing 10 people.
But Israel’s security needs have to be measured against the need for perishable produce and flowers to reach their final destination in Amsterdam and other points in Europe. Last year, Gaza suffered big losses when Israel delayed export permission by two months.
As well, farmers, in particular flower growers, need a host of inputs as well as packaging materials, which require Israeli approval to be imported.
The exports underway these days, however, aren’t enough for Gaza farmers, who form a major component of the Strip’s economy. About 900 acres is devoted to growing strawberries, which will yield a harvest of 1,000 tons, about 40% more than the current export quota. Gazans grow a cornucopia of other fruits and vegetables as well. Their natural market is Israel or the West Bank, but so far Israel has barred sales to those markets. Shaath said this is unfair as Israel now exports some $3400 million of produce to Palestinian areas and under the Oslo peace accord should accept Palestinian imports in return.
Nevertheless, Shaath is sanguine about next year’s export prospects. Gaza crops tend to mature earlier than competing ones, so that if the complicated chain of political and security arrangements can be preserved and developed, the Strip’s farmers will be the first on the market.
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SAP ordered to pay Oracle $1.3bn in the biggest-ever award for copyright infringement
SAP, Europe’s biggest software company, has been ordered by a US court to pay Oracle $1.3bn (£820m) in the biggest-ever award for copyright infringement.
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What Losing Traders Do by Vince Stanzione Multi Millionaire Trader Gives You Some Priceless
What Losing Traders Do by Vince Stanzione – I have been trading futures, options and equities for around 23 years. As well as trading my own money I have traded money for banks and I have been a broker for private clients. Over the years I have been fascinated to discover the difference between winners and losers in this business.
Try to learn from the points I am about to give you: 1. Many traders trade without a plan. They do not define specific risk and profit objectives before trading. Even if they establish a plan, they “second guess” it and don’t stick to it, particularly if the trade is a loss. Consequently, they over trade and use their equity to the limit (are undercapitalised), which puts them in a squeeze and forces them to liquidate positions. Usually, they liquidate the good trades and keep the bad ones; 2. Many traders don’t realise the news they hear and read has, in many cases, already been discounted by the market. Often, new traders jump into a market based on a story in the morning paper; the market many times has already discounted the information; 3. After several profitable trades, many speculators become wild and un-conservative. They base their trades on hunches and long shots, rather than sound fundamental and technical reasoning, or put their money into one deal that “can’t fail; 4. Traders often try to carry too big a position with too little capital, and trade too frequently for the size of the account; 5. They fail to predefine risk, add to a losing position, and fail to use stops; 6. They frequently have a directional bias; for example, always wanting to be long. A good trader should be happy to trade up or down; 7. Lack of experience in the market causes many traders to become emotionally and/or financially committed to one trade, and unwilling or unable to take a loss. They may be unable to admit they have made a mistake; 8. They over trade. Many new traders after opening a Financial Spread betting account are like a child with a new toy. They want to trade anything and everything. The new internet dealing offered by most bookmakers has made it even worse; 9. Many traders can’t (or don’t) take the small losses. They often stick with a losing trade until it really hurts, then take the loss. This is an undisciplined approach…a trader needs to develop and stick with a system. If you are following charts and a trendline or moving average is broken, you must stick to your rules. “All through time, people have basically acted and re-acted the same way in the market as a result of: greed, fear, ignorance, and hope. That is why formations and patterns re-occur on a constant basis.” Jesse Livermore and; 10. Many traders break a cardinal rule: “Cut losses short. Let profits run.” Emotion makes many traders hold a losing trade too long. Many traders don’t discipline themselves to take small losses and big gains.
Vince Stanzione – Forex – Finbets. The above points have been taking from Making Money From Financial Spread Trading 2009 Edition by Vince Stanzione.
Vince Stanzione is a self made multi-millionaire based in Europe. Started at a junior at the age of 16 for Nat West Foreign Exchange in London he worked his way up in before leaving to start up his company. He has been involved in various companies including mobile communications, premium rate telephony, Interactive gaming, publishing and television and financial trading. He now lives most of the year between Spain and Monaco and trades his own funds mainly in currencies and commodities. As well as trading he also teaches a small number of students and produced the best selling course on Financial Spread Betting.
Polo Ralph Lauren 2Q Profit Up 16 Percent
New York, NY, United States (AHN) – Polo Ralph Lauren exceeded expectations and reported a 16 percent rise in second-quarter profit on Thursday. The company raised its full-year 2011 outlook.
For the period ended Oct. 2, net income was $205 million, or $2.09 per share, up from $178 million, or $1.75 per share, in the same quarter in fiscal year 2010.
Sales rose 11 percent to $1.5 billion boosted by increased revenues from both wholesale and retail businesses. Currency effects shaved off about 1 percent from sales.
Wholesale revenues jumped 8 percent from last year to $827 million. The New York-based company said global shipments were larger during the quarter, especially in Europe and the United States. Revenues in Japan, however, declined and added to negative effects of currency.
Retail sales spiked 17 percent to $659 million, with revenues from RalphLauren.com growing 21 percent.
Comparable store sales contributed 8 percent, reflecting a 1 percent rise in sales at Ralph Lauren stores, 8 percent at factory outlets and 10 percent at Club Monaco. Recently assumed Asian stores also added to the company’s strong retail performance.
Revenues for the third quarter are forecast to rise at a “high teens percent rate,” Polo Ralph Lauren said. For the full fiscal year, revenues are expected to grow “by a low double digit percentage” including currency adjustments.
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Whirlpool 3Q Profits Down 9.2 Percent
Benton Harbor, MI, United States (AHN) – Whirlpool reported third-quarter profits Wednesday that met analysts’ expectations but declined 9.2 percent. The world’s largest appliance manufacturer lowered its full-year outlook for shipments in North America, citing a challenging economy.
Earnings for the quarter ended Sept. 30 was $79 million, or $1.02 a share, down from $87 million, or $1.15 per share, a year ago. Adjusted for charges under a $93 million agreement with the Canadian and U.S. governments to settle a price-fixing case of a subsidiary, profit was $2.22 per share.
Sales rose 0.5 percent to $4.5 billion, driven by double-digit growth in Asia and Latin America.
Revenues in Asia increased 21 percent to $195 million. Without currency adjustments, sales rose 16 percent. Whirlpool expects its shipments to the region for the full year to jump 8 to 10 percent, instead of 5 to 8 percent as it had previously forecast.
In Latin America, sales rose 13 percent, or 9 percent excluding currency shifts, to $1.1 billion. Full-year outlook for shipments in the region remains at 10 percent.
Sales in Europe fell 8 percent to $827 million but the Michigan-based company says it expects shipments to increase 1 to 3 percent.
North American sales dropped 3 percent to $2.4 billion. Whirlpool lowered its full-year forecast of 5 percent growth in shipments to 3 percent.
The company projected full-year earnings per share of between $7.80 and $8.30 after charges under the anti-trust plea agreement. Before charges, earnings are expected to be $9.56 to 10.06 per share.
“As expected, we faced a challenging environment during the quarter which resulted in a significant slowing in sales growth compared to the first half of the year,” chairman and chief executive Jeff Fettig said in a statement. “Our ongoing focus on cost reductions, productivity and innovative new product launches continues to enable us to adapt to changes.”
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Middle East On Growth Path, IMF Says
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates David Rosenberg – Economic growth is returning to the Middle East, but not quite at the pace of the go-go years of soaring oil prices and massive real estate development.
An International Monetary Fund report released Sunday estimated the combined economies of the region stretching from Morocco to Pakistan would expand by 4.2 percent this year, almost double the pace of 2009. They will grow even faster in 2011, with the region clocking an expansion of 4.8 percent.
“We expect most countries in the region to grow faster in 2010 and 2011 than in 2009,” Masood Ahmed, director of the IMF’s Middle East and Central Asia Department, said in a press release.
Although the global financial crisis took down the region’s highest flying economies, most of the Middle East weathered the worst economic contraction well. The world economies shrank 0.6 percent in 2009 as the impact of bad home loans in the U.S. reverberated through the world’s financial markets. In the Middle East, economies continued to expand, albeit at a pokier 2.3 percent pace.
The Middle East’s oil exporters will likely see economic growth pick up to 3.8 percent from 1.1 percent in 2009 as oil prices climb to an average of $76 a barrel, according to the Washington, DC-based IMF. In 2011, the rate of growth will probably accelerate to 5 percent as oil prices average $79 a barrel. Still, that leaves the oil economies growing at a slower pace than in the pre-recession years.
Oil exporters remain too vulnerable to fluctuations in the global price of petroleum, which traded at $82.10 on Friday. While not all Middle East’s big oil exporters are that heavily dependent on oil for economic output, they all rely on oil revenue for half or more of their government budgets.
For the Middle East’s oil importers, the pick-up in growth will be less dramatic. GDP growth will reach 5 percent this year, a 0.4 percentage point improvement over 2009, before slowing to 4.4 percent in 2010, the IMF report said. Egyptian GDP growth will show steady improvement this year and next, although well below the pre-recession rates when growth exceeded 6.5 percent annually. Pakistan, reeling from the impact of floods last summer, will see economic growth slow considerably from previous forecasts.
The IMF report warned that as strong as the recovery has been for the region, it is still not enough to provide jobs for the Middle East’s large and growing population of young people. It estimated that half the population is under age 25 while the average jobless rate in 2008 was 11 percent. For the region to create enough jobs, its combined economy would have to grow 6.5 percent annually over a sustained period, something it has never managed to do.
“There is now a recovery happening in the emerging markets in the region,” Ahmed said at a forum in Dubai. “But they are not growing fast enough to create the jobs they need.”
The Middle East needs 18.5 million jobs over the next decade, about 7 million more than it will create if it keeps to its previous rate of growth, the IMF said, admitting this was a “tall order.”
For all its oil wealth, the Middle East lags behind the world’s emerging economies. Since 1990, GDP has increased 55 percent for the Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan, but the emerging Asian economic powers have boosted their output by 200 percent in the same period, the IMF said. The region’s governments can accelerate economic growth by paring back on government regulation and privatizing state-owned enterprises and liberalizing labor markets. The Middle East also needs to redirect more of its trade from the slower-growth economies of Europe to burgeoning Asia, it said.
Inflation is also rearing up in some Middle East countries, the IMF warned. In Saudi Arabia it accelerated from 3.5 percent in October 2009 to 6.1 percent last August. In Iran, consumer prices were moderating until recently – showing from a 30 percent rise at the end of 2008 to 7 percent a year ago. But they have since begun rising to a 10 percent annual rate in the first quarter of 2010, the IMF report said.
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Nestle Reports Strong Nine-Month Sales
Vevey, Switzerland (AHN) – Nestle reported better-than-expected sales in the first nine months of the year on Friday and maintained its forecast for the full year.
Sales from January through September grew to 82.8 billion Swiss francs ($85.2 billion), up 4.1 percent from 79.5 billion Swiss francs ($81.8 billion) during the same period last year.
Foreign exchange reduced revenues by 2.7 percent, while acquisitions added 0.7 percent, putting organic growth, which excludes the effects of currency, acquisitions and divestments, at 6.1 percent.
Revenues from food and beverage businesses jumped 5.7 percent, excluding currency changes that left sales 2.8 percent less, and acquisitions that added 1.6 percent.
Organic growth for food and beverage in the Americas was 5.5 percent. The world’s largest food manufacturer reported “broad-based improvements” in North America that compensated for continued weak demand for the premium segment of the ice cream market as well as frozen food products such as Lean Cuisine and Lean Pockets.
In Europe, sales increased 3.3 percent despite “challenging” demand in Russia. Growth was led by brands from various categories, including Herta in prepared meats products and Friskies and ProPlan in petcare.
In emerging markets in Asia, Africa and Oceania, organic growth was 11 percent, fueled by sales from Maggi Noodles and Nestea Litro. Nestle plans to support such rapid growth with new facilities launched in the third quarter, such as an infant cereal factory in Ghana and a CoffeeMate plant in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Other food and beverage brands such as Nespresso performed well worldwide. In its largest European markets, the premium coffee grew more than 20 percent.
The Switzerland-based company, which does not report quarterly earnings, said it continues its expansion of Nespresso boutiques worldwide and will have 220 stores by the year’s end.
Nestle’s forecast for the full year remains at about 5 percent organic growth for food and beverage. The company expects improvements in its operating profit margin.
“The first half’s growth momentum continued unabated in the third quarter, providing a good base for the full year as we face challenging comparatives in the final quarter,” chief executive Paul Bulcke said in a statement.
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Global Software Revenues To Surpass $232 Billion
Stamford, CT, United States (AHN) – Worldwide enterprise software revenue is on pace to surpass $232 billion in 2010, a 4.5 percent increase from $222.4 billion in 2009, according to the latest forecast from Gartner, Inc.
“After declining 2.6 percent in 2009, the software market is recovering well with signs of continuing growth on horizon,” Joanne Correia, Gartner managing vice president, said in a statement.
“Aging systems as well as greater demand for security and aligning software with business requirements are key decision factors for end-users increasing their spending within infrastructure software market,” she added.
Emerging regions such as Asia-Pacific and Latin America are expected to invest heavily in enterprise software initiatives in the next few years as they continue to round out IT infrastructures necessary to do business, Gartner said.
Software spending in North America is forecast to reach $110.8 billion in 2010, an 8.5 percent increase from $102.1 billion in 2009.
“These earnings were driven primarily by pent-up software demand and having been mostly satisfied, somewhat slower growth is expected for latter half of 2010,” said Colleen Graham, Gartner’s research director.
Spending in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region is expected to decline this year to $64.5 billion, a 3.4 percent decline from 2009.
The Asia-Pacific region, excluding Japan, is expected to gain the fastest growth in revenue, estimated to reach $22 billion in 2010, up 13 percent.
Australia and South Korea are the region’s most mature markets with majority coming from maintenance revenue streams making them the second- and third-largest in Asia-Pacific.
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LG Chief Exec Resigns After Profit Loss
Seoul, South Korea (AHN) – The chief executive officer of the world’s third-largest phone maker resigned Thursday amid declining sales.
Nam Yong will officially step down next month after leading LG Electronics as CEO for nearly four years. Koo Bon-joon, a member of the family that founded the conglomerate and chief executive of LG International, a trading firm, will succeed him.
The electronics giant posted a second quarter net profit of 856 billion Korean won ($722 million) in July, up 27 percent from the previous quarter but down 33 percent from last year. It said sales of home entertainment and televisions rose 19 percent, but handset sales went down 30.8 percent from the previous year.
The South Korea-based company forecast increased revenue for the third quarter in North America and Korea with the introduction of new handset models including smartphones.
LG Electronics launched its Optimus One and Optimus Chic models in Seoul Monday in a bid to catch up with rivals in the smartphone race. The phones will be available in Europe and other markets later this year. The company plans to debut a series of “fast and powerful” smartphones in the fourth quarter.
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An Introduction to Options and Futures Trading
In the world of finances, futures and options are classed as “derivatives”. They are financial instruments whose prices are calculated by the price of another underlying asset or security. Generally, futures and options are used to guard against risk and for speculative roles. Whenever an investor from Europe purchases shares of an American company on the NYSE, for instance, he is exposed to some stock price fluctuations and currency exchange rate risks. To minimize his overall degree of risk, the investor can purchase currency options to make certain the exchange rate is fixed when he sells off the stock and converts the American dollars back into euros. We will now take a better look at how futures and options work.
Futures
A future is merely an agreement to purchase or sell an asset for a preset price at a specified date in the future. A future’s fundamental asset can be, amongst a lot of other things, an agricultural commodity, individual shares, stock market indices, bonds, and interest rates. A future contract will have fixed delivery dates, traded units, and other clearly defined terms and conditions.
For illustrative purposes, let’s imagine that you’ll “open” a futures position by either purchasing or trading an equity futures contract where the underlying asset are shares. Whenever you’re anticipating the price of the stock to go upwards in the near future, you will purchase a futures contract that will oblige you to receive a specified number of shares at a preset price on a certain date in the future. This is known as a long futures position. If, on the other hand, you’re anticipating the price of the stock to go downwards in the near future, you’ll sell a futures contract that will oblige you to deliver a specified number of shares at a preset price on a certain date in the future. This is known as a short futures position.
Like any other kind of investment, futures contracts carry a risk – that market prices may not go in the direction you thought they would. Nevertheless, they enable you to profit both in a rising and a descending market. When you invest in shares, you typically profit from purchasing low and selling high. But with a short futures position, you can still make money even if the stock price drops.
Options
An option gives its holder the right to purchase (call option) or sell (put option) an underlying asset at a planned price before or on a particular date in the future. But unlike a futures contract, the holder of an option is not obligated to take any action. If the holder decides not to exercise the option, all he stands to lose is the premium he gave for it.
Imagine you currently have a number of shares of a specified company’s stock and you plan on selling them in a month. If you anticipate the share price to drop in this one-month time period, you could purchase a put option that will give you the right to sell your shares at a preset price at any time within the next thirty days. Whenever your expectations turn out to be right, you’ll be able to sell your shares at a price that is more than the market value.
Options could be utilized as an insurance mechanism against future dips in the price of an underlying asset. The purchasing of options arrives with limited risk as the holder of the option only stands to lose the option premium if his anticipations of market movements do not happen. Additionally, they allow you to take part in market price movements without actually having to take on the underlying asset.
Hopefully, this brief article has served to shed some light on what futures and options are and how they function. The examples preceding were very simplified and were only meant to show the basic concepts of derivative trading. In reality, trading with derivatives is a good deal more complex and warrants additional reading. You need to be extremely acquainted with the different types of products to be successful and fruitful in your positions.
Author: Larry Haywood
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Bumper guardian
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