Two killed as looters raid supermarkets in Argentina

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Two people were killed in Argentina on Friday as looters broke into supermarkets in several cities, stirring memories of the country's devastating economic crisis 11 years ago. Police fired teargas and rubber bullets to stop dozens of stone-throwing youths from looting a supermarket owned by French retailer Carrefour near the capital, a day after the unrest erupted in the Patagonian ski resort of Bariloche. Government officials condemned the violence and sent 400 military police to the southern city, where raiders stormed a supermarket owned by the local unit of Wal-Mart and made off with flat-screen televisions and other goods. The violence spread to the central city of Rosario, where two people were killed, and to the northern province of Chaco. About 250 people were arrested in total in four different provinces and police battled to avert fresh incidents in the urban sprawl that encircles Buenos Aires. "When you see that they're taking flat-screens, you know it's not hunger," said Daniel Scioli, governor of Buenos Aires province and an ally of President Cristina Fernandez. Fernandez often contrasts the country's current economic stability with the 2001/02 crisis that plunged millions of Argentines into poverty and unleashed a wave of looting for food in supermarkets. She was re-elected by a landslide just over a year ago, but her approval ratings have since plunged due to sluggish economic growth, surging prices, and middle-class anger over currency controls and her combative style. Fernandez's administration blamed the violence on opposition trade union leaders, who rallied in the capital this week to demand wage rises and lower taxes due to double-digit inflation. "There are elements in Argentina that want to provoke havoc and violence and stain our holiday season with blood," national security secretary Sergio Berni said. "Argentina is not the same as it was in 2001."

Read More..

Andersen changes directions, heads to Wisconsin

Gary Andersen publicly pledged his allegiance to Utah State not long ago. Now he's on the verge of becoming Wisconsin's coach.
Wisconsin reportedly will hire Andersen to replace Bret Bielema, who left the Badgers earlier this month to take the Arkansas job.
The news about Andersen broke Tuesday night and neither Utah State nor Wisconsin had anything official to announce about Andersen on Wednesday. The delay is at least in part tied to laws in Wisconsin that require a state job to be posted for at least two weeks before it can be filled. The two-week posting was up at the end of business on Wednesday.
The school was expected to introduce Andersen at a news conference Thursday, but a snowstorm might change those plans.
The 48-year-old Andersen just completed his fourth and best season at Utah State. The 18th-ranked Aggies finished 11-2 with a bowl victory against Toledo and won the Western Athletic Conference.
It's been a remarkable rise for a program that had been near the bottom of major college football for years, and stuck in distant third in its own state behind BYU and Utah. The Aggies won nine games in the previous four seasons before Andersen took over. The last football coach to finish his tenure in Logan, Utah, with a winning record was Phil Krueger who went 21-12 from 1973-75.
Andersen drew interest from California, Colorado and Kentucky last month, but decided to pass on those opportunities and received a contract extension from Utah State.
"The interest I have received is a compliment to the quality young men in this program," Andersen said in the statement released Nov. 30. "I love Cache Valley, this university and these young men, and I am humbled and excited to continue to be the coach here. The leadership of President (Stan) Albrecht and Mr. Barnes, as well as the support from the fans and community, are big reasons why this is the right place for myself and my family at this time."
That was before Wisconsin had an opening. Bielema announced he was leaving on Dec. 4, three days after the Badgers won their third straight Big Ten title and trip to the Rose Bowl.
As late as last week, before Utah State played in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, Andersen was saying he was committed to the Aggies.
"I love the kids I get to coach here. ... The kids I have in the program, it just was not time. I look them in the eye and I need to be where I'm at," he told the Idaho Statesman newspaper.
When Wisconsin called, Andersen changed his mind.
It's a tough spot in which many coaches find themselves. It's imperative for recruiting purposes to show unwavering commitment to your current school. But when a coach does jump to another job, he looks like a liar.
"If you can, it's good to not say anything," former Arkansas and Mississippi coach Houston Nutt said. "It's almost now impossible because there's so much information out there."
Washington State coach Mike Leach said he felt his only obligation was to his employer and his team.
"I think you handle it honestly with the people you work for, but by the same token you don't let the media or public into your personal business," he said.
Apparently, many in Utah were caught off guard by the Andersen-to-Wisconsin news.
"I can't believe this..." Utah State receiver Alex Wheat posted on his Twitter account when word started to spread.
"I hate rumors.." tight end DJ Tialavea tweeted.
A few hours later, that changed.
"Coach A just called me. Explained the situation. No hard feelings. I have nothing but respect for the man. We must fight on. (hash)AggieNation," Wheat posted.
"Just got that phone call always have and always will love ya coach!" Tialavea tweeted.
The Wisconsin State Journal, which first reported that the Andersen would be the next Badgers' coach, reported Wednesday that Andersen spent Tuesday night calling his Utah State players.
The should buy plenty of good will for Andersen as he heads from his old job to his new one.

Read More..

Cowboys trusting Bryant to make call on finger

IRVING, Texas (AP) — The Dallas Cowboys couldn't trust receiver Dez Bryant to even run the right routes less than two months ago.
Now they're letting him dictate whether he plays with a broken left index finger. They are also drawing inspiration from Bryant's insistence on waiting until after the season for a surgery serious enough for owner Jerry Jones to startle his emerging star by mistakenly saying it would involve taking bone from his hip.
"Finding a way to play shows a lot of toughness because that's not easy to do," said tight end Jason Witten, who would know because he once ran 30 yards downfield without a helmet before getting tackled and played in the opener this season with a lacerated spleen. "He earned my respect."
Bryant broke the finger on a catch against Cincinnati two weeks ago. He scored a critical touchdown in the 20-19 win after the injury and made it clear early last week that he would play against Pittsburgh.
Playing with a padded glove that exposed the tip of the broken finger, Bryant looked like a decoy in the first quarter because Tony Romo kept throwing to Miles Austin, but he still scored a touchdown for the sixth straight game — catching a ball away from his body, fingers first — and finished with four catches for 59 yards.
The Cowboys (8-6) beat the Steelers 27-24 in overtime last weekend and emerged with control of their playoff hopes. Dallas moves on with wins over New Orleans (6-8) at home on Sunday and at Washington in the finale.
"I just wanted to be out there and I felt like I needed to," Bryant said. "Miles came up to me and said, 'We're all really inspired by you playing.' I can tell from the guys that it meant a lot."
Seven weeks earlier — in that same locker room — Bryant had to acknowledge that his route-running wasn't precise enough, and that it cost Romo one of four interceptions in a 29-24 loss to the New York Giants. He also botched a punt return so badly that coach Jason Garrett took those duties away from him.
Bryant did have 110 yards receiving that day — a season high at the time — and made a spectacular catch that appeared to win the game in the final seconds. But a replay showed that his fingers came down first out of bounds, so he still had just two touchdowns through seven games.
The third-year pro was on his way to another mediocre season, and still didn't know whether Dallas County prosecutors would pursue family violence charges against him over an altercation with his mother during the summer. That incident came after his first two years were marred by lawsuits over unpaid bills for tickets and jewelry and a scene at the mall for wearing sagging pants.
Just as his career-best touchdown streak started, though, Bryant got word that a deal had been reached that could lead to dismissal of the family violence charges. He celebrated by having the same career high in receiving yardage twice — 145 against Cleveland and Washington. With eight touchdowns in six games, Bryant is now tied for the among NFL receivers with 10 scores.
"I'm proud of him," Witten said. "You talk about him dealing with all the stuff he's dealt with the three years he's been here. He's almost like a little brother. You keep offering him support and encouragement. He's a good kid. It kind of seemed like he's put it all behind him."
Jones, ever the optimist, has been guarded as Bryant kept stringing together good games. He gushed about the receiver after beating the Steelers, but scared Bryant a little by offering the possibility of a bone graft involving Bryant's hip ("You're not touching my hip," Bryant told reporters Sunday after hearing the Jones diagnosis). Turns out Jones just misunderstood the doctors. The bone will come from the hand. But Jones' point was clear: the injury is serious.
"He certainly is playing with some risks, but he was inspirational out there to everybody involved in the organization," Jones said. "He meant it because we were still playing for all the marbles, and he wanted to give everything he could."
While Dallas coach Jason Garrett said medical opinions did factor in the decision, Bryant said his reasoning was simple: The Cowboys were still in the playoff hunt. Had Dallas been eliminated, he said he might have gone ahead with surgery. There's some personal incentive, too. Two more 100-yard games would give him six for the season and probably push him past 1,300 yards. With that kind of production, he could end up leading the league in touchdowns. He might go to his first Pro Bowl.
"I know that you go by catches and yards and touchdowns, but I go by how many times he does the right thing, makes the right choice, runs the right route, the depth that he's at, the timing that he came out, his ability to read the coverage," Romo said. "You know there's a lot of stuff involved and he didn't do as well in the beginning of the year, but he's really come on as of lately."
Bryant's come so far, the Cowboys are trusting him to call the shots.

Read More..

Red Sox look for innings in Dempster

BOSTON (AP) — The Boston Red Sox have the reliable starter they sought in Ryan Dempster.
He's pitched at least 200 innings in four of the past five seasons, impressive to general manager Ben Cherington but not so special to Dempster.
"That's your responsibility as a starting pitcher in the big leagues," Dempster said Wednesday at a news conference after his $26.5 million, two-year deal was finalized. "The norm used to be 300 and somehow we worked it down to like 200. Even 180 seems to suffice."
He said he works hard to stay in shape "so that I can take on that workload."
Boston had just one starter reach the 200-mark this year, with Jon Lester pitching 205 1-3 innings.
"It's important," Cherington said. "Ryan's got a history of being very effective and a really good pitcher. The consistency he's shown in taking the ball every fifth day was important to us. I think as a team when you start having to fill in for guys, if we don't have a reliable rotation and you start filling in with guys from down below or guys from the bullpen or whatever, it's not so much that move but you've inevitably weakened another area of your team."
Dempster gets $13.25 million a year and would earn an additional $250,000 each season for pitching 190 innings.
"We went into this offseason wanting to add a proven starter to the rotation, someone that has a history of success, reliability and someone who we thought would embrace coming to Boston and everything that comes with pitching and playing in Boston, on and off the field," Cherington said. "We think Ryan is the perfect fit for that."
The 35-year-old right-hander adds experience to a rotation that underachieved this year as the Red Sox went 69-93 and finished last in the AL East in their only season under manager Bobby Valentine. He was fired and replaced by John Farrell.
"Obviously there's a lot of room to go up," Dempster said. "Ben and the organization have done an incredible job of adding a lot of really good players and good baseball guys. So we're just going to go into spring training and work as hard as we can and go out there every day and leave it all on the field and play as hard as we can to get the best out of each other."
Lester and Clay Buchholz had disappointing years and John Lackey returns after missing the season following elbow-ligament replacement surgery. Left-hander Felix Doubront was in the rotation for most of the season.
Dempster reached the major leagues in 1998 with the Florida Marlins and has a 124-124 record with a 4.33 ERA. A Canadian, he said he is undecided about playing in the World Baseball Classic.
But he is confident the Red Sox can reach the playoffs for the first time since 2009.
"That's why we play," he said. "The money and things like that in baseball are great. But I came here because I believe this team has a chance of winning as much as anybody else. I've always believed that should be your mentality going into any season. Because it's proven day in, day out every team's going to win 50 games, every team's going to lose 50 games. It's what you do with the other 62 that matter."
He went 12-8 with a 3.38 ERA this year. After starting 5-5 with a 2.25 ERA in his ninth season with the Chicago Cubs, he was traded to the Texas Rangers and went 7-3 with a 5.03 ERA. That was his first stint in the American League.

Read More..

Angels swap hitting for pitching with Mariners

(Reuters) - The bulked-up Los Angeles Angels swapped some hitting for pitching on Wednesday by sending first baseman/designated hitter Kendrys Morales to the Seattle Mariners for starting pitcher Jason Vargas.
The Angels, who signed power-hitting Josh Hamilton to a free agent contract last week, sent some much-needed punch to Seattle to add lefthander Vargas to a rotation that includes Jered Weaver, C.J. Wilson, Tommy Hanson and Joe Blanton.
"We have been focused on adding offense this offseason, and feel that Kendrys will be a middle-of-the-order bat for us," Seattle General Manager Jack Zduriencik said in a report on Major League Baseball's website.
"He's a switch-hitter with power who has played - and hit - in the AL West. He's familiar with the teams and parks and is a proven run-producer."
Seattle was last in the American League in runs scored with 619, 148 fewer runs than third-best Los Angeles.
The Cuban-born Morales, 29, hit .273 with 22 home runs and 73 RBIs last year in 134 games in his first season back after missing all of 2011 with a broken left leg.
Before his injury, suffered when he landed awkwardly while jumping into a group of team mates after hitting a walk-off grand slam homer, Morales was one of MLB's emerging sluggers after hitting .306 with 34 home runs and 108 RBIS in 2009.
The trade of Morales freed up some lineup space for 26-year-old Mark Trumbo, who hit 32 home runs with 95 RBIs for the Angels last season bouncing between the outfield, first base, third base and designated hitter.
Vargas, also 29, pitched the last four seasons with Seattle, posting a 36-42 record with a 4.09 ERA. The lefty, who went 14-11 with a 3.85 ERA last season, was a Mariners workhorse, logging more than 200 innings in each of the last two years.
He has pitched well in the past at Angel Stadium, registering a 3-1 record with a 2.27 ERA in seven career outings in the ball park.
The deal involved two players entering their final season of arbitration eligibility, with both set to become free agents after the 2013 season.

Read More..

RB Richardson thinks Saban will stay at Alabama

BEREA, Ohio (AP) — Trent Richardson would be surprised if Nick Saban followed him from Alabama to the Cleveland Browns.
Saban, who will lead the Crimson Tide against Notre Dame in the BCS national championship game in Miami on Jan. 7, has been mentioned as returning to the NFL, perhaps with the Browns if second-year coach Pat Shurmur is fired at season's end.
"I can't see him coming to the NFL," Richardson said Wednesday. "I would be very shocked."
And Richardson knows the coach quite well. After all, he was a standout running back for Saban at Alabama before being selected in the first round by Cleveland in April. Richardson ran for 1,679 yards last season for the Crimson Tide.
"How can you get tired of winning," Richardson asked. "He's got so much going there. He has no reason to leave. He gets what he needs and he treats his program like the NFL (anyway). He makes sure his players are prepared for the game and prepared for the next level when the time comes."
Any exit to the NFL wouldn't be foreign to Saban, who led Alabama to national titles in 2009 and 2011. He left his post at LSU, in fact, to become coach of the Miami Dolphins in 2005. After going 15-17 in two seasons there, he went back to the SEC, this time in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
"I can see him staying at Alabama," Richardson said, "and retiring at Alabama."
Saban, who played and coached at Kent State, has Cleveland roots, as well. He was the Browns defensive coordinator from 1991-94, which has helped to spark the speculation.
"I don't believe it," Richardson said. "Rumors are rumors. I don't buy into it and that's one thing he taught me to do — not buy into rumors."
Richardson is more concerned with playing the playoff-bound Denver Broncos (11-3) on Sunday. The No. 3 overall pick is 46 yards shy of surpassing Hall of Fame standout Jim Brown's 55-year-old team rookie rushing record of 942 yards for the Browns (5-9).
"I'm ready for a big day," Richardson said. "Anytime Jim Brown's name is mentioned, it is big for me. Huge."
Richardson, who missed all of training camp after having minor surgery on his left knee in July, has already set a new franchise rookie mark with 11 rushing touchdowns. Overall, he has 258 carries for 897 yards.
"I'm good to go," he said. "No issues with the knee. None. With the ribs, I am not going to stop playing ball. I am going to keep on going no matter what."
All that said, he did reveal for the first time that he occasionally had trouble breathing in his first few games with the injury. He has adjusted his mindset to ignore the pain. He doesn't anticipate difficulty in Denver's mile-high thin air.
"I've never played there, but I'll be OK," he said. "If I need oxygen, I'll take it and go play."
Shurmur has not considered resting Richardson, either.
"He'll play," he said. "None of us are 100 percent right now. I think that's fair to say at this time of year. Guys are playing through things."
___
NOTES: DB Dmitri Patterson, released by Cleveland on Monday, landed with Miami. Shurmur declined to say why Patterson was cut: "I'm not going to talk about the whys or what-fors there. I will say this though, I'm happy for him that he's going to be able to finish out the year in Miami. That will be great for him." ... TE Jordan Cameron (head) and DL Frostee Rucker (groin) did not practice. ... WR Jordan Norwood practiced for the first time since sustaining a foot injury Oct. 7. He's not on the active roster. ... TE George Bryan was signed to the practice squad. He played at N.C. State (2008-11) and was in camp with Dallas last spring. ... The Browns are 3-0 vs. the AFC West, with the first-place Broncos on deck.

Read More..

French employers head sees mixed chance of labor reform success

PARIS (Reuters) - French company bosses and trade unions  have a good chance of reaching a deal to overhaul rigid labor rules, the head of the main employers' federation said on Tuesday as a deadline neared.

The reforms are crucial to President Francois Hollande's efforts to revive the euro zone's second-biggest economy, which has been shedding jobs and struggling to generate the growth and revenue needed to bring the national debt burden into line with European Union rules.

With the last labor negotiating sessions due on Wednesday and Thursday, employers and unions are struggling to compromise on how to make hiring and firing easier while giving workers more security at the low end of the job market.

Hollande has told the two sides to reach an agreement before the end of the year or he would order his Socialist government to draft legislation without taking their recommendations into account.

"I think that we have at least a one in two chance of succeeding," Laurence Parisot, head of the MEDEF employers federation, told journalists.

The government can legislate on labor reform if talks collapse. But failing to sign up unions and employers means that this deal will lack crucial support from their constituents and likely face attempts to block or water it down in parliament.

"Never before have investors like Goldman Sachs or JPMorgan called me to ask whether I hoped we would succeed," Parisot said. "It's obvious that this negotiation is in the spotlight because investors know that it's very important."

France has been steadily losing ground on export markets, notably to other EU countries including Germany, for a decade and credit rating agencies say they are closely monitoring France's efforts to reform.

It has lost two of its three AAA rankings from the major agencies and the third, Fitch, warned last week that an expected peak in national debt of 94 percent of GDP in 2014 was "at the limit" for the credit grade.

To sign up to an agreement, Parisot said that employers need to see greater flexibility on moving workers within companies and reducing work time to adapt when demand is weak.

They also want workers' legal recourse in lay-offs to be reined in and reject union demands for short-term job contracts of as little as one week or one month to be taxed more heavily.

All unions are clinging to taxation of short contracts as a condition for signing a deal. The government needs at least three out of the five main unions to back an accord in order to use it as the basis to redraft labor laws early next year.

However, with unemployment already running at a 14-year high, unions are wary of anything that would make firing easier. One major union has rejected any deal imposing more flexibility.

Read More..

Euro zone rescuer Draghi faces daunting 2013

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - With two short sentences, the head of the European Central Bank took the heat out of the euro zone crisis this year. In 2013 Mario Draghi has to live up to even bigger expectations.

The ECB's own forecasts suggest the euro zone economy will shrink 0.3 percent next year and markets remain skeptical that the bloc's weaker members, such as Spain and Italy, can fund ballooning government deficits without formal aid programs.

Progress towards closer economic and fiscal union -- deemed essential by policymakers to solve the euro zone crisis -- is likely to be painfully slow in 2013 because two of the bloc's top three economies, Germany and Italy, hold elections.

Draghi's inbox will fill up quickly.

"There will be a lot of focus on preparation for the ECB as the new single supervisor," said Nick Matthews, economist at Nomura, referring to new plans for the ECB to take over supervision of the bloc's biggest banks.

"The other big challenge is the performance of the real economy - does confidence return as the ECB is expecting?"

Draghi had only been in office eight months when he pulled the euro zone back from the brink of break-up by saying in July: "Within our mandate, the ECB is ready to do whatever it takes to preserve the euro. And believe me, it will be enough."

Although he began 2012 relatively untried at the European level, with Berlin suspicious, the new ECB president won support from German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her nominee on the ECB board, Joerg Asmussen, for his bold plan to save the euro.

That involved the ECB standing ready to buy government bonds in secondary markets to bring down borrowing costs for stricken countries, provided they signed up to a tough program of economic targets.

Draghi's stroke of genius - or luck - was that during 2012 the mere threat of ECB action sufficed to push borrowing costs down by a critical two percentage points for Spain and Italy, without the need to actually intervene.

This was just as well, since the most influential single ECB council member - Germany's Jens Weidmann - opposed the plan.

Clemens Fuest, research director at Oxford University's Said Business School and an adviser to the German Finance Ministry, explained that Draghi's vow to "do whatever it takes" to save the euro and the development of his plan came at a time when Berlin was under intense pressure to hold the bloc together.

"They didn't like (being pushed to do more) and they knew this would take the pressures away from that area," he added.

For a man who likes to say "the proof is in the eyes of the beholder", Draghi will need to deliver on his pledge next year but without triggering another ECB internal schism that would blow the market confidence he has restored.

The first test is already looming. In Draghi's native Italy, the reforming government of technocrat Mario Monti has collapsed and there is no guarantee that elections early next year will deliver a strong government committed to economic reform.

This threatens to take the three-year-old crisis to a new level and further test Draghi's ability to get a convincing policy response from a fractured ECB Governing Council.

The ECB will likely need to activate its new bond-purchase program - dubbed Outright Monetary Transactions (OMT) - in 2013 to ease Spain's borrowing costs. Any intervention will have to be strong enough to show Draghi's pledge is credible.

Bundesbank chief Weidmann would rather not use the OMT at all. Others at the ECB would, and sooner rather than later.

"We would prefer them to apply," one member of the policymaking Governing Council, speaking on condition of anonymity, said with reference to the request for aid from Europe's bailout fund Madrid must make before the ECB can act.

If juggling these pressures is not enough, Draghi also faces the managerial challenge of building up a banking supervisory body at the ECB next year that is both credible but separate from the bank's main business of setting interest rates.

BANKING BEHEMOTH

The ECB's new supervisory role is part of a vision for a more integrated euro zone that Draghi has pushed for since he succeeded Frenchman Jean-Claude Trichet as ECB president in November, 2011.

Under a landmark deal last week, the ECB will have new powers from 2014 that will give it automatic oversight of around 150 of the euro zone's 6,000-odd banks, and the authority to intervene in smaller banks if there are signs of trouble.

The establishment of this single supervisory mechanism is a first step towards a banking union that will lay a cornerstone for closer economic integration.

The Governing Council member, speaking on condition of anonymity, described the banking union as being of "existential importance for the euro zone". It will later include a fund to wind down problem banks and a deposit guarantee scheme,

But he and others at the ECB still worry about how the central bank will handle its new supervisory role without compromising its independence on setting interest rates - for instance by keeping rates low to keep banks alive.

"This institution is starting to be overburdened," said the Council member, who wanted tight rules to delineate the bank's new supervisory role and to separate it from monetary policy.

Draghi's challenge here is two-fold: he needs to put the right structures and people in place to ensure the supervisor operates effectively. But he must also separate it from ECB monetary policy business or risk losing the bank's independence.

Draghi's solution is to keep himself out of the supervision business - a strategy that poses a risk of its own as the ECB must make the new body credible without the authority he brings.

"It's not going to be me who is going to take care of this," he told European lawmakers on Monday. "We have to make sure that monetary policy and supervision are rigorously separated."

TIGHTROPE WALK

One tightrope walk Draghi cannot opt out of its monetary policy: in the past this was mainly the business of setting interest rates to keep inflation in check. This year, Draghi took ECB's monetary policy to a new level with his OMT plan.

In Germany, however, the OMT plan has led to worries that Draghi is moving the ECB away from the Bundesbank model of fierce independence. Before the ECB can intervene under the program, a country must seek help from Europe's bailout fund.

"This means the ECB becomes dependent on fiscal policy decisions, and gives up its independence to a degree," said Fuest, who in March takes over as head of German think tank ZEW.

These concerns echo the views of Weidmann. The resignations last year of his predecessor, Axel Weber, and German chief economist Juergen Stark in protest at the ECB's previous bond-buying plan rocked the young central bank.

While Weidmann has indicated he will not resign, 65-year-old Draghi was only able to secure his OMT plan by isolating the Bundesbank chief. Draghi needs to keep him in a minority of one, or else risk his signature policy plan losing value.

This means Draghi may have to forgo the interest rate cut some at the ECB would like in 2013 to help the euro zone's recession-hit southern economies, just to avoid other hardliners - or hawks - joining Weidmann in opposing use of the OMT.

Euro zone rates are currently at 0.75 percent, higher than Britain's 0.5 percent and the Fed's rate of close to zero.

"Draghi's key task for 2013 is keeping the sharpest weapon the ECB has - the OMT - as sharp as possible by keeping as many of the Governing Council hawks on his side as possible," said Christian Schulz at Berenberg Bank, a former ECB economist.

"If there is a gradual recovery, as expected, his chances are good because another rate cut, which the hawks would not like, would not be needed."

Read More..

Dassault Aviation names Trappier as next CEO

PARIS (Reuters) - Dassault Aviation  said the head of its international operations, Eric Trappier, would take over as chief executive when Charles Edelstenne reaches retirement age in January.

His deputy will be Loik Segalen, currently director of economic affairs at the maker of French warplanes and business jets, Dassault said in a statement on Tuesday.

Trappier and Segalen, both 52, had been identified in press reports as possible successors to Edelstenne, who will step down on January 8 ahead of his 75th birthday.

Industry sources say Edelstenne, who will stay on the board, is expected to remain an influential figure.

He joined Dassault Aviation in 1960 and became its chief executive in 2000, succeeding Serge Dassault, the son of company founder Marcel Dassault.

Dassault is seen as a key player in possible French defense industry consolidation involving Thales and Safran .

Aerospace and defense group EADS controls 46.3 percent of Dassault Aviation.

Dassault shares were little changed at 745 euros at 1326 GMT. The stock is up almost a third this year and has more than quadrupled in value in the 12 1/2 years since Edelstenne became CEO.

Read More..

Canadian dollar edges weaker as commodity currencies dip

TORONTO (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar weakened slightly against its U.S. counterpart in early trade on Monday as commodity-linked currencies dipped after the Reserve Bank of Australia said mining investment had likely peaked.

While the euro strengthened against the greenback and global shares approached a three-month high on signs of compromise in U.S. talks to stop automatic tax hikes and spending cuts hurting the economy next year, the Canadian dollar dipped.

"CAD has weakened off a little since yesterday's close, it's been a bit of a volatile morning," said Camilla Sutton, chief currency strategist at Scotiabank.

"Interesting because the euro touched a new high overnight but CAD is failing to make new gains."

At 9:14 a.m. (1414 GMT), the Canadian dollar stood at C$0.9846 versus the U.S. dollar, or $1.0156, slightly below Monday's North American close at C$0.9837 versus the U.S. dollar, or $1.0166.

"All the other commodity currencies are also slightly weaker partially on the RBA's minutes, which highlighted that the investment boom in the mining industry is likely peaking, as well as a focus on employment, so that seems to be pulling down commodity currencies a little bit," Sutton said.

Australia's central bank said it decided to cut interest rates this month rather than wait because it saw further evidence that the peak in the mining investment boom was near, while the non-resource sector showed no signs of picking up.

The Reserve Bank of Australia expects the mining investment boom to peak sometime next year, according to minutes of the bank's December 4 meeting, released on Tuesday.

Canadian government bond prices were mixed, slipping across the long end. The two-year bond was down 0.5 Canadian cents to yield 1.155 percent, while the benchmark 10-year bond shed 16 Canadian cents to yield 1.841 percent.

Read More..