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Gold futures on the COMEX Division of the New York Merc closed a bit lower Thursday as the USD bounced off of its 14 month low. Silver and Platinum both followed. The most active Gold contract for December delivery dropped US$5.90 or 0.6%, to finish at US$1,058.60 oz. The Dollar saw a slight recovery Thursday as investors worried that China could begin to withdraw its massive stimulus in view of an 8.9% economy increase in Q-3 in order to control the potential inflation. This refueled greenback’s appeal of safe haven amid concerns of global economy recovery. By the end of Gold floor trading time, the dollar index, a gauge measuring the greenback’s value against a basket of major currencies, rose to 75.375 from the 14 month low of 75.085 Wednesday. On the jobs market, the Labor Department said workers filing for unemployment benefits for the first time rose more than expected last week. New unemployment benefits claims rose to 531,000 last week from 520,000 the previous week, higher than economists’ expectations. December Silver was down 28 cents to US$17.545 oz. and January Platinum lost US$4.50 to US$1369.90 oz. Read more

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The world’s leading telecom company, Ericsson, said Thursday its sales were down 6% to 46.4 billion Swedish crowns (US$6.74B) in the Q-3 Y 2009. Operating income excluding joint ventures and restructuring charges amounted to 5.5 billion Swedish crowns (US$799M), down 3% from a year earlier, Ericsson said in its report. “Sequential sales decreased 11%, negatively impacted by currency exchange rate effects, seasonality and a reduced scope of the renewed managed services agreement in Italy. The lower year-over-year sales in Networks and Multimedia were partly offset by stronger sales in Professional Services,” said the report. Sales of network equipment declined due to lower demand in the current tougher market environment. Despite lower volumes, Network margins remain stable. The strong development in Professional Services continued,” said Carl-Henric Svanberg, president and CEO of Ericsson. Read more

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Regulators, lawmakers and the Federal Reserve Chairman are engaged in a Tug of War over the pace and reach of regulatory reform designed to prevent another financial crisis. In Congress, Barney Frank tried to shepherd through his House financial services committee a bill that would create an agency to regulate the sale of financial products to consumers, such a bill risks being neutered by moderate Democrats in the US House. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke wrote to the senior Republican member of the same House committee warning of the potential for “unintended consequences” if a law that restricted the ability of credit card companies to increase charges was rushed into action. In Chicago, Gary Gensler, head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, warned that exemptions in another bill that imposes tighter rules on derivatives trading should offer at most “very narrowly defined” exemptions for end-users. There is concern among advocates for tighter financial regulation, both within and without the Obama administration and Congress, that the original proposals for reform are being watered down after a fierce lobbying effort from the financial services industry. Read more

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Microsoft Corp launched Windows 7 on Thursday in its most important release for more than a decade, aiming to win back customers after the disappointing Vista and strengthen its grip on the PC market. The world’s largest software company, which powers more than 90% of personal computers, has received good reviews for the new operating system, which it hopes will grab back the impetus in new technology from rivals Apple Inc and Google Inc. The new and faster system is less cluttered and has new touch-screen features. It comes almost three years after the launch of Vista, whose complexity frustrated many home users and turned off business customers. The success of Windows, which accounts for more than half of Microsoft’s profit, is crucial for Chief Executive Steve Ballmer to revive the company’s image as the world’s most important software firm. “I have to say I’m chomping at the bit,” Ballmer told an audience of Microsoft customers and partners in Toronto on Wednesday, adding that he is ready to make sales calls himself on Windows 7. Sales won’t immediately impact the bottom line of Microsoft, which is expected to post a lower quarterly profit on Friday.

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Morgan Stanley reported Wednesday that it had returned to profitability in Q-3. The New York-based bank holding company said it earned US$498M or 38 cents a share, beating the Street’s expectations. Earnings from continuing operations were US$757M in Q03 after a loss of US$159 in Q-2 Y 2009. Net revenue in Q-3 was US$8.7B compared with US$18B in Q-3 Y 2008. The bank said revenue in the most recent quarter was lower in part because of a continued improvement in debt-related credit spreads that reduced sales and trading revenue. “Morgan Stanley continued to build momentum across our business this quarter,” the chairman and chief executive, John J. Mack, said in a statement. “We still have work to do in sales and trading.” Shares of Morgan Stanley, which had reported per-share losses for three straight quarters before Wednesday, rose more than 6% in morning trading in the New York Stock Exchange.

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Global information technology (IT) spending is expected to return to growth in 2010, leaving the worst year ever behind, market research firm Gartner said Monday. According to Gartner’s latest forecasts, worldwide IT spending next year will climb to US$3.3T, a 3.3 %increase compared with 2009. Gartner also predicted that global IT spending as a whole will see a 5.2 % drop year-on-year in 2009, and enterprise IT spending will fare worse with a decline of 6.9%. “While the IT industry will return to growth in 2010, the market will not recover to 2008 revenue levels before 2012,” Peter Sondergaard, Gartner’s global head of research, cautioned in a statement. Read more

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