Ο Χριστοφοράκος αποζημίωσε τη Siemens

Ο Χριστοφοράκος αποζημίωσε τη Siemens


Το ποσό του 1,2 εκατομμυρίου ευρώ κατέβαλε ως αποζημίωση προς τη Siemens ο πρώην διευθύνων σύμβουλος της γερμανικής εταιρίας στην Ελλάδα, Μιχάλης Χριστοφοράκος, ο οποίος έχει κατηγορηθεί για δωροδοκίες Ελλήνων αξιωματούχων, σύμφωνα με δημοσίευμα του περιοδικού Ντερ Σπίγκελ.

Το Γαλλικό Πρακτορείο, που επικαλείται το Ντερ Σπίγκελ, σημειώνει ότι οι δύο πλευρές προχώρησαν σε "φιλική διευθέτηση" του ζητήματος.

"Οι ελληνικές και οι γερμανικές αρχές υποψιάζονται ότι ο Χριστοφοράκος δωροδόκησε πολιτικούς αξιωματούχους στην Αθήνα για να εξασφαλίσει συμβόλαια για τον όμιλο Siemens, υπενθυμίζει το περιοδικό, στο τεύχος που θα κυκλοφορήσει την Δευτέρα.

Από τα τέλη του 2008, η Siemens είχε προσφύγει στα δικαστήρια ζητώντας αποζημίωση από τον Χριστοφοράκο, όμως η διαδικασία διακόπηκε.

Πολλά άλλα στελέχη της εταιρείας, όπως οι Κλάους Κλάινφελντ και Χάινριχ φον Πίρερ, είχαν εμπλακεί σε σκάνδαλα διαφθοράς και έχουν ήδη δεχτεί να καταβάλουν αποζημιώσεις κατόπιν "φιλικής διευθέτησης".

source: capital.gr

SEC Said to Consider New Rules as Market Drop Probed

SEC Said to Consider New Rules as Market Drop Probed

May 8 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is considering regulatory changes aimed at slowing stock trading during periods of cascading prices, even though the agency hasn’t yet concluded what caused this week’s market plunge, two people familiar with the matter said.

SEC officials are weighing whether uniform trading curbs should be imposed across markets for companies that have fallen a certain percentage, said the people, who declined to be identified because the discussions are preliminary. The agency is examining whether any rules should include a time element because a steep decline that occurs in minutes may be more detrimental to markets than a decline over several hours, one of the people said.

U.S. regulators and exchanges are trying to determine what happened after stocks fell May 6, temporarily erasing more than $1 trillion in market value, in a rout fueled by waves of computerized trading. The SEC and Commodity Futures Trading Commission said in a joint statement yesterday that declines for individual stocks were “inconsistent” with well-functioning markets and pledged to make “structural” changes if necessary.

SEC spokesman John Nester declined to comment on internal agency discussions. Lawmakers are pressing the SEC for answers.

“Yesterday’s flash crash was incredibly startling,” Representative Paul Kanjorski said in a statement, announcing a May 11 hearing to examine the incident. “We cannot allow technological problems, regulatory loopholes, or human blunders to spook the markets and cause panic.”

Computer Glitch

Kanjorski, a Pennsylvania Democrat, also sent a letter to SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro seeking the agency’s views on the incident and asking what power it has to prevent future crashes.

While the SEC is in the early stages of reviewing market data, the agency hasn’t found evidence indicating that an erroneous trade or a computer glitch triggered the market rout, one of the people said.

CNBC citied “multiple sources” in reporting May 6 that New York-based Citigroup Inc. may have made a mistake in entering a transaction that contributed to the plunge. Citigroup said it found no evidence it was involved in an erroneous trade, a finding supported by futures market CME Group Inc.

“Based on our review, rumors about a trading error by Citi are unfounded,” said Citigroup spokeswoman Danielle Romero- Apsilos.

Washington Briefing

SEC officials have internally circulated at least two memos outlining market mechanisms suspected of triggering or fueling the market decline, a person familiar with the discussions said.

One memo, circulated two days ago, outlines a scenario described publicly by stock-exchange officials, people who saw the document said. The theory advanced by the other memo couldn’t be determined.

SEC commissioners were scheduled to be briefed on the incident yesterday by the agency’s trading and markets division in Washington, the people said.

One SEC memo, according to people who saw it, discusses a theory raised yesterday by NYSE Euronext spokesman Ray Pellecchia, who said sudden price moves in multiple stocks reached so-called liquidity replenishment points. That prompted the exchange to slow trading in those shares as it tried to ensure an orderly market. Such incidences allow other exchanges to ignore NYSE price quotes.

Uniform Practices

Trades sent to electronic networks then fueled the drop, said Larry Leibowitz, chief operating officer of NYSE Euronext. While the first half of the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s 998.5-point plunge probably reflected normal trading, the decline snowballed as orders went to venues lacking liquidity to match them, he said in an interview yesterday.

NYSE competitors such as Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. don’t use liquidity replenishment points. The SEC and CFTC in their joint statement raised concerns that the plunge may have been caused by exchanges not adhering to uniform practices.

“We are scrutinizing the extent to which disparate trading conventions and rules across markets may have contributed to the spike in volatility,” the regulators said. Ideas under discussion would make sure all trading platforms follow the same policies when prices fall precipitously.

A circuit breaker for individual stocks across all markets would avoid the problem of individual markets making their own decisions about trading, said Brett Mock, chairman of the Security Traders Association, a trade group of brokers and asset management companies based in Darien, Connecticut.

Increased Competition

The SEC and CFTC said their market oversight units are continuing to review trading data and will make findings public. The SEC’s enforcement division, which investigates violations of securities rules, will also try to determine if market participants exploited the turmoil to profit illegally, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said.

Increasing competition has eroded NYSE and Nasdaq’s trading volume. Less than 30 percent of transactions in NYSE and Nasdaq listed companies takes place on their networks with orders dispersed to as many as 50 venues. Most rival platforms are fully electronic.

Lawmakers including U.S. Senator Ted Kaufman, a Delaware Democrat, have urged the SEC since last year to increase regulation of markets that rely on computer algorithms to execute thousands of trades in seconds. Kaufman, who has raised concerns about potential manipulation or false trades triggering a crisis, urged the SEC this week to step up its oversight.

“No one knows what is happening in the exchanges when this trading is going on,” he said on the Senate floor May 6 after the market plunge. “All we have been requesting from the Securities and Exchange Commission is that they take a look at what is happening.”

source: bloomberg.com

Retail Sales Probably Increased in April: U.S. Economy Preview

Retail Sales Probably Increased in April: U.S. Economy Preview


May 9 (Bloomberg) -- Sales at U.S. retailers probably rose in April for a seventh straight month, pointing to a rebound in consumer spending that is broadening the recovery, economists said before reports this week.

Purchases increased 0.2 percent in April, extending the most successive gains since 1999, according to the median estimate of 60 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News before Commerce Department figures on May 14. Other reports may show manufacturing picked up and the trade gap was little changed.

The biggest increase in payrolls in four years may be a harbinger of additional gains as employers become more certain sales will grow, which in turn will lift wages and consumer spending further. Electronics stores may have led retailers last month as Apple Inc. sold at least 1 million iPads.

“Retail sales are picking up because of income growth,” said Dean Maki, chief U.S. economist at Barclays Capital in New York. “Consumption is going to be growing at a firm pace through the end of the year. We are in a sustainable recovery now.”

Cupertino, California-based Apple said it sold out of all three versions of the iPad 3g, which went on sale two weeks ago, at its retail stores in 13 U.S. cities.

“Demand continues to exceed supply,” Natalie Kerris, a spokeswoman for Apple, said May 6. “We’re working hard” to provide iPads to additional customers, she said.

Government Rebates

A remnant of last year’s government stimulus package may have also propelled sales of appliances last month, said Michael Feroli, chief U.S. economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in New York. Almost two-thirds of the $300 million the government allotted for state rebates on purchases of energy efficient appliances became available last month, Feroli said in a May 3 note to clients.

Florida’s rebate program ran out of funds in three days last month, while Texas and Illinois ran through the money in a day, he said. The incentives may boost core retail sales, which exclude items such as autos, building materials and gasoline, by 0.3 percentage point, according to Feroli.

One reason Americans are spending may be that the employment outlook is brightening. Payrolls increased by 290,000 in April, the most in four years, according to figures from the Labor Department last week. Unemployment climbed to 9.9 percent from 9.7 percent as thousands of jobseekers entered the workforce.

Less Broad-Based

The increase in April sales may have been less broad-based than in prior months. Chain stores reported the smallest increase in monthly sales since November, industry figures showed last week. Demand was dragged down by teen-clothing retailers Abercrombie & Fitch Co. and Aeropostale Inc., and an early Easter, which boosted March sales at the expense of April.

The debt crisis in Europe also raises the risk that tumbling stock prices may cause households to rein in spending. Shares have been pummeled the past two weeks, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index dropping 8.7 percent since April 23.

“Clearly, a blossoming labor market recovery is a big positive,” economists Paul Ashworth and Paul Dales of Capital Economics Ltd. in Toronto, said in a note to clients last week. “But if equity and house prices continue to fall, households will ramp up their savings to compensate for the loss of wealth, perhaps undermining consumption.”

For now, more jobs may trump the drop in stocks. The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary index of consumer sentiment for May probably rose to 73.5 from 72.2 the prior month, according to the survey median. The figures are due May 14.

Factory Gains

Manufacturing, which accounts for about 12 percent of the economy, continues to expand. A Federal Reserve report May 14 may show production at factories, mines and utilities climbed 0.6 percent in April, the tenth straight gain, according to the survey median.

The need to replenish depleted inventories, combined with rising business spending, is giving factories a lift. Stockpiles in the U.S. probably rose 0.4 percent in March, capping the first three-month gain since 2008, economists said ahead of a Commerce Department report on May 14.

Finally, the trade deficit in March was probably little changed at $40 billion, compared with $39.7 billion the prior month, according to the survey median before a May 12 report from the Commerce Department.



Bloomberg Survey

==============================================================
Release Period Prior Median
Indicator Date Value Forecast
==============================================================
Trade Balance $ Blns 5/12 March -39.7 -40.0
Federal Budget $ Blns 5/12 April -20.9 -20.0
Initial Claims ,000’s 5/13 8-May 444 440
Import Prices MOM% 5/13 April 0.7% 0.8%
Retail Sales MOM% 5/14 April 1.9% 0.2%
Retail ex-autos MOM% 5/14 April 0.9% 0.4%
Retail exauto/gas MOM% 5/14 April 0.7% 0.4%
Ind. Prod. MOM% 5/14 April 0.1% 0.6%
Cap. Util. % 5/14 April 73.2% 73.7%
U of Mich Conf. Index 5/14 May P 72.2 73.5
Business Inv. MOM% 5/14 March 0.5% 0.4%
==============================================================

source: bloomberg.com