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...Christopher Whalen, managing director of research firm Institutional Risk Analytics, thinks the problem with Citi's repayment has less to do with capital ratios and more to do with waning confidence in the bank around the world. In early December, the investment arm of the government of Kuwait sold its entire investment stake in Citigroup. "Foreign investors like to see the government's stake in Citi," says Whalen. "If the government gets out, investors around the world will flee...
...ruling family of the gulf state, indicated that it may have to default on a portion of its $60 billion in loans. The rush to Dubai has left Citi on the hook for billions of dollars of losses in the financially troubled gulf state. According to research firm Creditsights, Citi has made an estimated $5.9 billion in loans in the U.A.E., which includes Dubai as well as its oil-rich neighbor Abu Dhabi. Of that, $1.9 billion was made to Dubai World. In the end, it might not lose that much. On Monday, Abu Dhabi said it would provide...
According to retail expert Brit Beemer, electronics are virtually tied with toys as the top Christmas-gift item for the first time in more than 25 years. In a survey conducted last weekend by Beemer's firm, America's Research Group, and UBS Global Equity Research, 30% of consumers cited electronics when asked what gift they were buying most often (30.8% said toys). Last year, only 23.7% of respondents said they'd purchase an electronics item. The sector's strength has compelled Beemer, for the first time in his 19 years of conducting Christmas consumer surveys, to revise his holiday...
What's igniting electronics? The primary factor is price. After Circuit City went out of business earlier this year, you might have thought that Best Buy would use its "last man standing" status to its advantage and hold firm on prices. But other retailers decided they wanted a piece of Circuit City's pie. And to the benefit of holiday shoppers, one of those retailers is Walmart. For example, according to the website TVpredictions.com, Walmart offered a Blu-ray player for $78 on Black Friday, raised the price to more than $100 over the next few weeks and then lowered...
...Group, a market-research firm, says the average price for LCD TVs was down 22%, to $535, during the week of Black Friday. Notebook-computer prices dropped 26%, to $500, and unit sales of computers increased a whopping 63%. Prices for netbooks, the lighter, more portable cousin to traditional laptop computers, also dropped. Camcorder prices fell 33%. And these days, the deals extend beyond Black Friday. "One of the phenomena we are seeing is that retailers are really stretching the promotional period," says Ross Rubin, consumer-electronics analyst at NPD. "Retailers are looking to prime the pump...