KIRIN Holdings:Prices of beer raw materials will increase

After 17 years, Japanese brewer Kirin Holdings is expected to raise prices of beer due to the increase of aluminum and malt prices.

company said it will raise prices of all its beer products from Feb. 1. It declined to specify the size of the hike, saying retailers will determine retail prices, but a company source said consumers are likely to see store prices rise by 3 percent to 5 percent.

Rivals are seen likely to follow suit. Asahi Breweries, which runs neck-and-neck with Kirin for the title of Japan's top beer maker, said it has no plans to raise prices for now.

But Asahi President Hitoshi Ogita said at a recent news conference that the company might have to consider raising prices if its cost-cutting efforts cannot absorb rising material costs.

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Aussie shares shows slight higher ahead of Fed Rate decision

Australian shares have slightly increased last Wednesday. however, all eyes are still set towards Federal rate decision, so to know whether the trend will continue or not.

Australia's leading brewing and wine group, Foster's Group, added 8 cents or 1.3 percent at 6.40 dollars despite warning that a strong Australian dollar and the drought will hurt earnings.

Index leader BHP Billiton was down 66 cents or 1.4 percent at 46.22 dollars and Rio Tinto was off 1.53 dollars or 1.4 percent at 110.37 dollars.

(1 US dollar = 1.08 Australian dollars) bruce.hextall@thomson.com bhx/jm COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Financial News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.

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Steady asian markets await for fed rate decision

South Korea's KOSPI edged down despite a slight recovery from energy cost-sensitive stocks such as Korean Air and as stocks with better earnings improved sentiment. But market players are reluctant to bet on either direction, remaining cautious as they await clues on the outlook for U.S. interest rates.

Australian shares were little changed, as St George Bank led other banks higher after reporting upbeat full-year earnings, offsetting losses in resource firms on a drop in oil and metals prices.

Hong Kong blue chips and China plays both fell as losses on Wall Street and uncertainty about the outcome of a Fed rate-setting meeting prompted investors to book profits in recent gainers such as property and oil shares.

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US dollar record low against Euro

The trouble in housing sector has definitely contributed to the turbulent situation of US dollar against Euro, as it still recorded low against Euro.

The dollar also stayed on the back foot as some market players speculated that the Fed will signal in its post-meeting statement that additional policy easing might be needed to avoid an economic recession.

"Dealers are showing no hesitation in selling the dollar against the euro as they think the Fed is likely to go for more rate cuts even after the expected one today," said Tsutomu Soma, senior manager of foreign securities at Okasan Securities.

The yen dipped against major currencies on expectations the Bank of Japan will keep interest rates unchanged.

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Home prices dropped fastest since '91

National Home price index has recorded a fastest drop of home prices since 1991. accordingly, the decline had worsen the housing situation in the entire America. Find out how fast the decline was.

The 10 city index fell 0.5 percent in July from June. The worst annual decline in the index was a 6.3 percent drop in April 1991.

The month-over-month index of 20 metropolitan areas fell 0.7 percent to 197.16 in August from July, bringing the measure down 4.4 percent from the year-ago period.

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Lexmark profits tumble after result of 3Q released

What would happen to Lexmark if its profits will decline? Would it mean job cuts or company closure? Find out...


For the fourth quarter, Lexmark expects a profit of 32 cents to 42 cents per share, or adjusted earnings between 50 cents and 60 cents per share. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expect profit of 39 cents per share.

Lexmark also forecast sales to be down in the low- to mid-single digit percentage range year over year.

Analysts expect sales of $1.34 billion in the fourth quarter.

Shope kept a "Neutral" rating on the shares.

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IBM records good profits for 3Q

One of the leading computer companies, IBM, has recorded a 6 percent earnings for the third quarter. Will this continue until next year?


-quarter net income rose to $2.36 billion, or $1.68 per share, from $2.22 billion, or $1.45 per share, a year earlier. Revenue increased 6 percent, to $24.1 billion from $22.6 billion, but rose 3 percent excluding currency-related gains.

The per-share profit and revenue results matched analysts' average expectations, according to Reuters Estimates.

The gross profit margin narrowed to 41.3 percent in the quarter from 42.0 percent a year earlier.

"I think that overall (services) is certainly going to be the highlight of the quarter as an upside surprise," said Bob Djurdjevic, president of Annex Research. "The downside surprise was a sharp drop in the mainframe revenues and shipments."

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Intel's 3Q earnings rise 43%

One of the leading computer companies, Intel, has recorded a good new profit which is estimated to be 43 per cent of its quarterly income. Find out how stable intel is.



"The overall message is one of strong demand," Intel Chief Financial Officer Andy Bryant said in a telephone interview, adding that third-quarter revenue rose 16 percent sequentially, which was the highest growth rate in 10 years. "All worldwide markets saw reasonable growth and there's no question that Europe and Asia had the strongest growth," he said. "The U.S. market was pretty normal."

Intel said its third-quarter net income rose to $1.86 billion, or 31 cents per share, from $1.30 billion, or 22 cents per share a year earlier. The results were helped by Intel's restructuring efforts as it moved to new technology.

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On ABN-Amro acquisitions: RBS wins over Barclays

Who would have the final takeover of the ABN-Amro? Will it be Barclays or the Royal Bank of Scotland?


In a statement, Barclays said it had received only 0.2% of ABN shares by the time its offer closed on Thursday.

Barclays was originally the preferred suitor as it planned to keep the business whole, but ABN switched to a neutral stance after the gap between the two bids widened.

Barclays will receive a 200 million-euro "break fee" from ABN, which the bank said significantly exceeds the cost of the bid.

Keen to close the door on the saga and refocus on organic growth, Barclays said it was confident in its momentum and would restart a buyback programme worth up to 1.55 billion pounds ($3.16 billion).

Analysts had speculated failure would make Barclays itself a takeover target, but that talk has faded with the recent logjam in loan markets.

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Stocks end up after job reports

Stock market condition is still end higher, despite slower recession among the affected shareholders. Would this trend continue until Christmas?

"We're not seeing a weakening of the labor market. There's no indication that the wheels are falling off," said T.J. Marta, economic strategist at RBC Capital Markets. He contends that while the employment figures make it less likely the Fed will cut rates this month, many on Wall Street were relieved to see the economy forging ahead.

"It looks bad compared with the rip-roaring days in the housing sector but this is called normalcy."

According to preliminary calculations, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 91.70, or 0.66 percent, to 14,066.01. The blue chip index set a new trading high of 14,124.54, topping a high of 14,115.51 set Monday, when the index also saw a record close.

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Shareholders seem to like Levitt Rights Issue

Levitt Rights Issue is the new talk of the town in the US market. I has new offering to

the shareholders that would benefit them for a new class a and class b shares.

Levitt (nyse: LEV - news - people ) announced on Aug. 28 an offering to its existing shareholders of as many as 100 million shares for $2 each . The investors would be able to buy up to 5.0414 new shares for each Class A share and Class B share, the latter class of which is entirely owned by Levitt's erstwhile suitor and controlling shareholder BFC Financial (nyse: BFF - news - people ). With Levitt’s shares closing at $3.44 on Friday, it looks like those that took part in the offering made a bundle.

Levitt will be issuing 76 million shares of its Class A shares as a result of the offering. In August, the company had 18.6 million A shares and 1.2 million B shares outstanding. The B shares have about 13.5 times the voting power of the A shares. BFC also owned 2.1 million A shares before the rights offering, giving it 52.6% of the vote although it had only a 16.7% equity stake.

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Is GOOGLE still a good "buy"?

Still undisputed, Google is still cheap as compared to its closest rival, Yahoo. Its stunning performance through internet services made it as one of the toughest internet services in the world.


Google is the undisputed leader in the Internet search game. It's closest rival, Yahoo! (nasdaq: YHOO - news - people ), has seen its progress hampered by management shuffles, including the recent departure of Chief Executive Officer Terry Semel, and snafus related to the launch of its new ad-serving system, Panama. (See: "What's Next for Yahoo!" ) Meanwhile, Google hasn't missed a beat, the company has continued to expand its online empire with new acquisitions, such as video-sharing site YouTube and the upcoming takeover of DoubleClick.

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