Forex Dollar

AJAX Feed API Addition - The Dynamic Feed Control

2008-04-12T12:28:00.000-07:00

The Google AJAX Feed API's got a small addition today in the form of the Dynamic Feed Control.

It is a control that expands on the base FeedControl and allows user's to embed multiple feeds for convenient display on their webpage. It offers several layouts, including our popular horizontal layout similar to the NewsBar, and also two forms of vertical layout. You have access to the full source code. We include default CSS styling, but all of this can be changed to suit your needs. We have also supplied a full programming guide, a wizard for easy setup, and it exists as an iGoogle Gadget so you can add it to your iGoogle homepage.

Direct Access to YouTube Channels

2008-04-12T12:27:00.002-07:00

This morning, we made an update to the AJAX Search API that provides you with direct access to YouTube Channels, Most Viewed Videos, Top Rated Videos, and Recently Featured Videos.

As millions of you have already discovered, our insanely popular Video Bar Control is a great way to showcase your favorite videos on your site. Using this new feature, you will be able to "subscribe" a Video Bar to the lonelygirl15 channel, the Most Viewed YouTube Videos Channel, or any combination of channels and search expressions.

As part of this update, the Video Bar Wizard has been modified to make it very easy for you to configure a Video Bar with a mix of channels and search expressions. In addition, the control has been updated to include a new player style and location. This lets you continue to have multiple Video Bars all over your pages while ensuring that the player is always positioned very close to the Video Bar.

If you have an existing Video Bar on your site and just want to modify it in place to take advantage of the new features, take a look at the updated reference guide. What you will find in the reference guide is pretty straight forward:

A query expression of ytchannel:fordmodels will access the fordmodels channel
A query expression of ytfeed:most_viewed will access the Most Viewed YouTube Videos
A query expression of ytfeed:top_rated will access the Top Rated YouTube Videos
A query expression of ytfeed:recently_featured will access Recently Featured YouTube Videos
All of the ytfeed: based expressions also accept time modifiers of .today, .this_week, .this_month, or .all_time. For example, the search expression ytfeed:most_viewed.this_month provides access to the Most Viewed YouTube Videos this month.
We, along with the YouTube team are excited to be able to deliver these features to you and hope that they meet your needs. Make sure to let us know what you think by posting a message or two in our developer forum.

While I have your attention, and while we are discussing Video, I'd like to also show you some clever things that you can do with video that is not hosted on YouTube. One of our good customers, The Real News Network, in addition to their YouTube Channel, has a large collection of high quality video that is exposed via an RSS Feed. Using the AJAX Feed API in conjunction with the Slide Show Control, multimedia developer Allen Booth has built a very compelling Gadget. Try out the gadget on your Google Personalized Home Page. Note how it uses the Slide Show control to show off the high quality video thumbnails present in the feed, and that when you click on a thumbnail, the associated video will play in place using a custom and highly optimized video player. In future posts, we will take a deeper look at this approach.

Update: Something important that I forgot to mention in this post... The new functionality we are delivering today is based in part on the YouTube Data API, part of the large and growing family of GData APIs.

Search Result Limit Increase

2008-04-12T12:27:00.001-07:00

Early this morning we turned on a highly requested feature... The AJAX Search API now supports up to 32 search results as well as pagination through result sets. I understand that this might not match everything that you have been asking for, but at this point in time, delivering a 4x increase in the number of available search results is all that we are able to support.

You can see the new code in action in all of our samples that are based on the default search control:

Tabbed Hello World (web, news, and book tabs)

Custom Search Engine Sample

etc.
The pagination logic is built into the default search control. If you like to code your own search control, we have updated the Raw Searcher sample with a few lines of code that implements result pagination.

For a number of complex reasons, this feature is not implemented in Blog Search or in Local Search.

The PartnerBar - Contextual Cross Linking

2008-04-12T12:25:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, our team received a call from the Executive Producer of EW.com, the online extension of Entertainment Weekly Magazine. She asked if our Feed API could be used to build a module that they could configure to promote and link to their partner's sites. The result of that phone call is our brand new PartnerBar control.

Working closely with the Executive Producer and production staff, we developed the control to meet the demanding needs of EW.com's site while ensuring that the same code and model could support the rest of the Time Inc. network, as well as the network of sites you are likely to care about. The result is a professional level component that gives the design team complete control over all aspects of styling and site integration and delivers a widely used control at a very low integration cost.

Looking around the web, we see many sites using a wide variety of technologies to provide functionality that is similar to our AJAX based PartnerBar. Depending on a site's architecture and infrastructure, these modules can be somewhat expensive to build, test, maintain, and extend. Sometimes there are cron jobs that have to be run to pull and process partner feeds, sometimes there are back end code and templates that need heavy changes, etc. The PartnerBar that we built is coded as an AJAX control and as a result, it's typically very easy to integrate onto your site, requiring the resources of your HTML team and designers, but not your back end team. At this level of the stack, integrations are typically very efficient in terms of both time and impact on related infrastructure. They are able to take a control like our PartnerBar and go from idea to live in a matter of hours. Our team's design standard: "If you can tweak your HTML template, you can have the PartnerBar (or VideoBar, NewsBar, SlideShow, etc.) up in minutes."

Calling all JavaScript developers: Hack the Day Away with Google

2008-04-12T12:24:00.000-07:00

Google will be hosting a hackathon at the Mountain View campus on Friday, February 29th from 2pm until 10pm. The hackathon will be covering multiple JavaScript APIs, including our AJAX Search/Feeds APIs. There will be some quick introductions to the APIs, then we'll get you guys coding with our APIs (bring your laptops!).

This is a great chance to learn a bit about APIs you haven't played with and to ask more advanced questions about the ones you love. You'll also have the chance to meet some of the product engineers who create these APIs as well as win prizes and shwag.

gearsAJAXHelper: Use Google Gears with AJAX APIs for Faster Queries

2008-04-12T12:23:00.000-07:00

Google Gears is an API that is known for giving developers the ability to have their webpage viewable offline. However, it can also be used to speed up your website. In the case of the AJAX APIs, you can use the Google Gears local cache and client-side database to have queries load fast with cached data while requests for fresh data are done in the background.

We decided it would be cool to write a small library to make it easy for you AJAX APIs developers to write quick-loading, always fresh searches/feeds. The gearsAJAXHelper has two main features - it allows you to store and return key/value pairs from the local database, and it allows you to choose whether you want all resources files on the page (images, CSS, Javascript, HTML) to automatically be cached in the Gears cache.

The key/value pair database feature let's you store the query/results as a key/value pair. Then, the next time the query is made, the results can be served from the database while fresh results are being retrieved. This dramatically reduces the latency in queries/feed grabs.

The (optional) automatic cacheing of resource files will make it so that each time the user visits your webpage they will be getting resources served from their Google Gears cache, not new versions from the internet. Be careful when using this feature, as you might not want stale content to be served. There is also a refresh function, to clear the Google Gears cache of old files.

Here is a sample application that uses the gearsAJAXHelper to quick-load feeds. Notice that after you have clicked on a candidate (or state) once, the next time you click it will quick-load the results. If the results in the database are stale, you will see fresh results populate the content area. Here's how the gearsAJAXHelper library is used in this code:

gearsAJAXHelper.initialize("election", "election", false);
This initializes the library. The first two parameters you pass in are what you want the name of the Gears LocalServer ResourceStore and Gears Database to be named, respectively. The third parameter specifies whether you want your page's resources to be automatically cached.

Then there are just three other main calls that are used:

gearsAJAXHelper.storeKeyVal(key, value);gearsAJAXHelper.returnKeyVal(key);gearsAJAXHelper.refresh();
When you make any requests, store the results using gearsAJAXHelper.storeKeyVal(key, value). Use the query/feed address as the key, and the results as the value. In the case of the Presidential Application, in the NewsBox.prototype.searchComplete function I wait until the results have been turned into the desired HTML, then I store that as the value and the query as the key.

The NewsBox.prototype.loadNewsBox function is called before any search is executed. In here, I use gearsAJAXHelper.returnKeyVal(key) to check if the query has been done before - if it has we will use the HTML returned. This should be a near-instantaneous operation. Immediately after, I execute the search we would have done so that when it completes fresh results will be served. If the database doesn't have the key/value pair stored, then we will execute the query as normal.

In some cases, you might want to clear the database of old entries as well as clear the Gears LocalServer cache - use the gearsAJAXHelper.refresh function for this.

Introducing the latest AJAX API: Google Visualization API

2008-04-12T12:22:00.000-07:00

We are excited to launch the Google Visualization API, a new API designed for visualizing structured data. The API adds the ability to send queries to data sources and process the response. The first data source that already supports this API is Google Spreadsheets. We are also launching a set of visualization gadgets that use this API.

With this API, you can read data from a data source that supports the API. You can read an entire table, or you can run a query on the data source using the API's query language. The query response is an easy to process data table designed to simplify data visualization. It includes both the underlying values and the formatted values, column types, headers and more.

Use this API to create your own data visualization that is decoupled from data source implementation.

The API is loaded using the Google AJAX API loader: google.load("visualization", "1");

Every data source is identified by a URL. For example, each spreadsheet has it's unique data source URL. Using the google.visualization.Query class, you can run a query on the data source:

var q = new google.visualization.Query(DATA_SOURCE_URL);q.send(responseHandlerCallback);

Use the query language to select specific columns, filter rows, aggregate values and more.

var q = new google.visualization.Query(DATA_SOURCE_URL);q.setQuery("select A, sum(D) group by A");q.send(responseHandlerCallback);

Introducing the AJAX Language API - Tools for Translation and Language Detection

2008-04-12T12:21:00.000-07:00

The AJAX Search and Feeds team is happy to announce a new member to their API family -- the Language API. This new API boasts two functions, language translation and language detection - which cover 13 languages and 29 translation pairs.

The best part? Using the API is simple. To begin, go ahead and add the script tag below to your page:

Next, load the API functions into the page with the AJAX API Loader:

google.load("language", "1");

Before we can start using those functions, though, we have to wait until the page is loaded. The AJAX APIs have a standard method for this that will call whatever function specified when the page has loaded:

google.setOnLoadCallback(onloadCallback);

Once in the onloadCallback function, we are ready to use either the translation or the language detection methods. To do a translation call, simply specify the text you would like to translate, the language you are translating from, the language you are translating to, and then a callback function. Here's what it looks like:

google.language.translate('Gato', 'es', 'en', function(result) { alert(result.translation);});

Here is the list of language name to abbreviations. When specifying a language, you can either use the enumeration to do them such as google.language.Languages['SPANISH'] or just write the string abbreviation 'es'. But what if you don't know what language your text is in? We've got you covered -- if you leave the language you are translating from blank then the API will auto-detect what language the text was written in.

You'll see that in the callback function, we receive a result object. The translation property is the word in the translated language. For a full list of properties returned in that object, check out the translation result reference.

The language detection method is quite similar:

google.language.detect('Questa linea di rilevare che questa è la lingua.', function(result) { alert(result.language);});

This line will detect what language "Questa linea di rilevare che questa è la lingua." is written in, and return the result to the callback function. In the callback I alert the answer, result.language. Here is the language detection result object reference. There are two other important properties that you should take note of -- isReliable and confidence. These will let us know how sure the language detector is.

All right, enough with the technical stuff, let's see these APIs in action...

Here are two simple Hello World applications:

Language Detection:

Translation:

And here's a fun mashup I made with the Language, AJAX Search, and Google Gadgets APIs. It's a game that has a list of nouns, and you have to translate the nouns to a given language. If you add this to your iGoogle homepage, you can change the settings so that it uses the AJAX Search API to grab image hints for you.

Language Learner

Gadgets powered by Google

Come Meet the AJAX API Team Engineers at Google I/O on May 28-29 in San Francisco

2008-04-12T12:17:00.000-07:00

We recently announced Google I/O, our largest developer event of the year. It takes place May 28-29 in San Francisco. The purpose of the event is to bring developers together to learn about and to discuss the latest web development technologies. Over the two days, Google engineers and other leading software developers will share their knowledge in breakout sessions, hands-on Code Labs, and Q&A at Fireside Chats.

This year's event features an entire track devoted to AJAX and JavaScript including a series of sessions on our AJAX APIs:
Spice up Your Web Apps with Google AJAX APIs
Advanced Gadget and UI Development Using Google's AJAX APIs
Visualize Your Data: Google Visualization API
Members of the AJAX API team will also be participating in a "Fireside Chat" where you get the chance to tell the team what you want, discuss issues and design decisions, and hear the team's thoughts on whatever you want to ask.

Visit the Google I/O Website to learn more and register. Space is limited, so be sure to make plans to attend now. We're excited to meet and interact with so many members of the developer community, and we hope to see you there in May.

If you can't make it to SF, we're still having a global Google Developer Day series. We'll be hosting Developer Days in a number of countries around the world. Look for an announcement with dates and locations soon.

Catch Up With Three AI Alums During Results Show Bookmark This

2008-04-07T13:48:00.001-07:00

This Wednesday, April 2nd at 9:00pm EDT on FOX, Bucky Covington will return to "American Idol" in a taped interview from his new hometown of Nashville, Tennessee. He will update the show's 30 million viewers on the latest happenings since competing on season five, including the release of his debut CD. The segment also features fellow AI alums Phil Stacey and Bo Bice.

Bucky is also excited to celebrate his second consecutive top 10 hit as "It's Good To Be Us" jumps four spots to #9 on the Country Aircheck/Mediabase chart. The song's music video includes a cameo by freestyle motocross champion Cowboy Kenny Bartram, and is currently on CMT and GAC's Top 20 countdown shows.

Bucky's self-titled CD released in April 2007 and opened at #1 on Billboard's Top Country Albums chart, with the biggest first week sales for any debut country artist that year. He wrapped 2007 as Country Aircheck's #1 New Artist based on the strength of his top 5 first single "A Different World" and his current hit, "It's Good To Be Us." Bucky is currently on tour with Dierks Bentley on the singer's "Throttle Wide Open" tour.

The Song Choices of the Top 9 Bookmark This

2008-04-07T13:47:00.003-07:00

With so many hits to choose from during Dolly Parton week, the Idols had their work cut out for them. They picked some great songs, and really seemed to have a blast with this week's theme. Check out the song choices below:

David Archuleta

"Smoky Mountain Memories"-Dolly Parton

David Cook

"Little Sparrow"-Dolly Parton

Jason Castro

"Travelin' Thru" -Dolly Parton

Michael Johns

"It's All Wrong, But It's All Right" - Dolly Parton

Brooke White

"Jolene" - Dolly Parton

Carly Smithson

"Here You Come Again" - Dolly Parton

Kristy Lee Cook

"Coat Of Many Colors" - Dolly Parton

Ramiele Malubay

"Do I Ever Cross Your Mind" - Dolly Parton

Syesha Mercado

"I Will Always Love You" - Dolly Parton

Idol Gives Back Tickets Bookmark This

2008-04-07T13:47:00.001-07:00

American Idol is pleased to announce that there are just a few seats left for the taping of Idol Gives Back special this Sunday, April 6th at the Kodak Theatre.

The most recent announcement notes that the following stars are now scheduled to appear: Robin Williams, Celine Dion, Forest Whitaker, Billy Crystal, Dane Cook, Kiefer Sutherland, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale, Jennifer Connolly, Elliott Yamin, Fantasia and Amy Adams.

They join previously announced international talent and sports figures like Bono, Brad Pitt, Reese Witherspoon, Miley Cyrus, Mariah Carey, Eli Manning, Peyton Manning, Fergie, Chris Daughtry, Carrie Underwood, Annie Lennox, John Legend, Snoop Dogg, Maroon 5, Heart and Gloria Estefan.

Carrie Underwood Adds More Dates On Tour Bookmark This

2008-04-07T13:46:00.001-07:00

Carrie Underwood’s headline tour, the “Carnival Ride Tour,” will continue with an additional run of shows in the month of June and will feature opening act, Jason Michael Carroll. The tour launched February 18 and all shows to date have been sell-outs.

Carrie wraps her co-headline dates with Keith Urban April 26 in Lexington, KY on the “Love, Pain, & The whole crazy Carnival Ride Tour” while Josh Turner, special guest on the “Carnival Ride Tour,” closes out his run of shows May 28.

Carrie’s current album, Carnival Ride, which contains her #1 co-written smash hits “So Small” and “All-American Girl,” was certified double-platinum within 2 months of its release. Her debut album, Some Hearts, was recently certified 7x-Platinum, becoming the best-selling solo female country debut in RIAA history. With this certification, Some Hearts now also surpasses all other releases as the all-time U.S. top-selling album by any American Idol contestant

Even More Celebs Added To Idol Gives Back Bookmark This

2008-04-07T13:45:00.002-07:00

The Emmy Award-winning IDOL GIVES BACK returns with an illustrious group of celebrity participants to help raise awareness and funds to benefit various U.S. and international charities Wednesday, April 9 (7:30-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. Robin Williams, Celine Dion, Forest Whitaker, Billy Crystal, Dane Cook, Kiefer Sutherland, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale, Jennifer Connolly, Elliott Yamin, Fantasia and Amy Adams join previously announced international talent and sports figures Bono, Brad Pitt, Reese Witherspoon, Miley Cyrus, Mariah Carey, Eli Manning, Peyton Manning, Fergie, Chris Daughtry, Carrie Underwood, Annie Lennox, John Legend, Snoop Dogg, Maroon 5, Heart and Gloria Estefan.

There are still a few tickets for the star-studded event that are currently on sale to the general public. The event will tape at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood on Sunday, April 6. For more information, visit here.

The brainchild of Simon Fuller, IDOL GIVES BACK has been recognized as a life-changing program, earning praise from many of the world’s best known figures including President George W. Bush, HRH Prince Charles and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Last season, IDOL GIVES BACK raised over $76 million for charity and garnered a prestigious Governor’s Award Emmy.

During the show, viewers will be able to make donations via toll-free lines and the Internet. Money raised by the charity special will be distributed by IDOL GIVES BACK to the following beneficiaries: Children’s Defense Fund; The Children’s Health Fund; The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; Make It Right; Malaria No More; and Save The Children’s U.S. Programs.

Jon Peter Lewis Breaks The Silence Bookmark This

2008-04-07T13:45:00.001-07:00

Jon Peter Lewis is primed for a big-time breakthrough courtesy of his new full-length album, Break The Silence.

The new album finds a more seasoned JPL balancing 'sitting in my bedroom all alone' melancholia, with the inviting, offbeat wit that put him on the short list of Idol cult favorites. Silence was produced by Chris Garcia (Santana, Michelle Branch) and features the talents of drummer Kenny Aronoff (John Mellencamp, Indigo Girls) and guitarist Nick Lashley (Alanis Morissette, Natasha Bedingfield).

Emotionally charged and overflowing with brainy pop hooks, the debut single and title track, available now online, is an assured, infectious cut that recalls equal parts Ben Folds, Duncan Sheik and vintage Beatles.

Ramiele Malubay Reflects On Her AI Journey Bookmark This

2008-04-07T13:43:00.000-07:00

Although Ramiele Malubay admits that "Idol" has taken over her life since her initial audition, she is grateful for the experience. As she said, " It’s exposure, it’s a future and I’m very grateful for the judges to get me as far as I did to let America judge." She's taking away a lot from being on the show. Ramiele said it taught her humility, and to be courteous to each and every person that works on the show, as everyone was there to help. As far as advice for any future contestants, Ramiele said, "Totally be yourself and enjoy every single minute of it because if you think too far ahead you’re going to miss the fun stuff, when you look back. And I’m just glad that I took everything in and I didn’t regret anything."

She might have no regrets but Ramiele does admit to some missteps along the way. When asked about singing Heart's "Alone," which Carrie Underwood tackled so wonderfully during season four, Ramiele said she knew what she was up against. She watched Carrie's performance, but her whole goal was to get back to the great critiques she was getting earlier on in the show. In fact, Ramiele said that the initial praise she received didn't seem all that important at the time, and she even let it get to her head. But once she started getting some criticism, she really started over-thinking things, and that's when she thinks things fell apart.

When asked about her lack of experience in comparison to some of the other Idols, Ramiele downplayed the value of that, saying that they were on an "even playing field," as they were all learning the same things from the same vocal coaches, etc. As she put it, the judges chose them all for various reasons, and experience wasn't the end-all, be-all feature they were seeking. Her diminishing confidence throughout the competition, however, did play a big part, and Ramiele said she never should have started second-guessing herself.

Ramiele did say that each Idol seemed to handle the pressure in different ways, and her outlet was definitely her crying! Her emotions were her way of getting out the stress that she was feeling. She also decided not to read the things being said about her on the internet, as she felt that would only make it worse. To boot, Ramiele also felt some added pressure to not only live up to her own expectations as well as her family's, but to other Asian-Americans that were in her corner. When asked about the toll that Simon's comments took on her, Ramiele was surprisingly upbeat about the critical judge. She called him a "very nice guy," and said he even offered her a shoulder to cry on after the show. He told her that, ultimately, song choice might have been her downfall, and she seemed to agree.

Ramiele admitted to listening to her family way too much toward the beginning in regards to song choice. Her family would get upset when she wouldn't pick what they wanted her to sing, and she decided that it wasn't a healthy way for her to go about choosing. As far as her song choice this week went, Ramiele had never even heard the Dolly Parton song before. However, she was pleased with herself that she took a song in a genre she wasn't comfortable in, and she made it her own.

The biggest thing that Ramiele seems to be taking from the show are the strong bonds she formed with the other Idols, as many probably noticed from watching her week to week. She called the Idols one big family, and said that none of them even thought about it as a competition until Wednesday nights, when they realized someone would be going home. When she got back to her room the other night, Brooke, Syesha, and Kristy Lee had left her a very sweet card saying goodbye. Kady Malloy sent her encouraging text messages after she left. Even David Archuleta, who's actually younger than Ramiele, treated her like a younger sister and would come and pat her on the head! But the strongest bond she formed was with another fallen Idol, Danny Noriega. She said she talks to Danny every day and they are going to move in together after the tour, calling them a "friend duet." When it came to naming a winner for this season, Ramiele was at a loss. In other years, she said that people probably had an inkling at this point in the competition, but with everyone being so good this year, it's anyone's to win.

As far as the future goes, Ramiele couldn't be happier to be a part of the upcoming tour. After that, she says she will try to pursue a singing career here in L.A., and would even like to do some acting. If that doesn't work, she said she will probably go back to school to pursue a career in nursing. As far as what her fans could expect from an album, Ramiele said, "I grew up listening to a lot of what my parents listened to, a lot of 60s, 70s, 80s – a lot of 80s – and I would love to just make an R&B solo album and kind of just make it a little bit more upbeat and add my flavor to some old songs or covers or something."

Idol Gives Back Tickets Bookmark This

2008-04-07T13:41:00.000-07:00

A final block of tickets to the Idol Gives Back performances at the Kodak Theatre on Sunday, April 6th have just been released!

The most recent announcement notes that the following stars are now scheduled to appear: Robin Williams, Celine Dion, Forest Whitaker, Billy Crystal, Dane Cook, Kiefer Sutherland, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale, Jennifer Connolly, Elliott Yamin, Fantasia and Amy Adams.

They join previously announced international talent and sports figures like Bono, Brad Pitt, Reese Witherspoon, Miley Cyrus, Mariah Carey, Eli Manning, Peyton Manning, Fergie, Chris Daughtry, Carrie Underwood, Annie Lennox, John Legend, Snoop Dogg, Maroon 5, Heart and Gloria Estefan.

2008-02-26T10:07:00.001-08:00

WEEKLY COMMODITES REVIEW: Oil leads way as commodity prices strike record highs

LONDON:The price of oil soared to an historic high above 101 dollars this week, while gold and platinum also scored record peaks as speculators dived into already buoyant commodities markets. Prices of raw materials are surging on concerns over tight supplies and strong demand for raw materials, particularly from emerging economic powers China and India. Oil: New York crude spiked Wednesday to a record high of 101.32 dollars a barrel on fears about supply disruptions around the globe and amid strong demand. Also on Wednesday, Brent North Sea crude struck a record peak of 99.22 dollars. “Oil gained sharply, supported by a combination of factors, including persistent supply concerns,” said Sucden analyst Andrey Kryuchenkov. Despite supply worries, the Organisation of Petroleum Countries could cut output at its meeting in Vienna next month because demand for oil drops in the second quarter as winter ends in the northern hemisphere. One OPEC member is Venezuela, which has reduced supplies to the United States owing to a row with US energy giant ExxonMobil, the world’s biggest oil company. ExxonMobil says it has won court orders in New York, London, the Netherlands and the Netherlands Antilles freezing some 12 billion dollars of assets in those jurisdictions from Venezuela’s state-owned oil producer PDVSA. The legal battle relates to ExxonMobil’s bid to secure compensation after Venezuela’s government nationalised key oil fields in the Orinoco basin, including two ExxonMobil operations. Crude prices slumped on Thursday after two days of record peaks as a stronger-than-expected rise in US crude-oil reserves damped supply jitters. On Friday, New York’s main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in April, was at 97.52 dollars per barrel, compared with 96.38 dollars for the now-expired March contract a week earlier. Brent North Sea crude for April rallied to 95.94 dollars from 95.64 dollars. Platinum and palladium: Platinum, which is used to produce expensive jewellery and catalytic converters in vehicles, hit a historic pinnacle of 2,206 dollars an ounce. The white metal faces a tight supply situation because South Africa, which produces about 75 percent of the world’s platinum, is in the grips of a power crisis that has badly hit the country’s mining industry. Platinum’s sister metal palladium, which has also been affected by the South African situation, hit 525.50 dollars an ounce — a high point which was last scaled in 2001. On the London Platinum and Palladium Market, platinum rose to 2,155 dollars an ounce at the late fixing Friday from 2,057 dollars a week earlier. Palladium climbed to 506 dollars an ounce from 439.25 dollars. Gold and silver: Gold prices enjoyed a record high of 953.91 dollars per ounce on Thursday. Analysts said gold jumped higher as investors sought a haven for their cash amid concerns over rising inflation and surging oil prices. James Moore of TheBullionDesk.com said the precious metal “looks set to extend higher in the coming sessions as investors seek assets to offset rising inflation”. “Silver mirrored the move in gold ... hitting a new multi-decade high,” noted UBS analyst John Reade. On the London Bullion Market, gold soared to 943 dollars at Friday’s late fixing from 912.50 dollars a week earlier. Silver rose to 17.94 dollars an ounce at the late fixing from 17.38 dollars. Base metals: Base metals prices rallied across the board as tightening global supplies dictated market direction. “The strength in base metals prices is impressive given recent equity market volatility and macroeconomic concerns,” said Barclays Capital analysts. “Recently metals prices have decisively broken their link with equity markets and are being driven higher by supply concerns.” On Friday, copper for delivery in three months jumped to 8,325 dollars a tonne on the London Metal Exchange from 7,815 dollars a week earlier. Three-month aluminium prices climbed to 2,917 dollars a tonne from 2,850 dollars. Three-month nickel rose to 28,525 dollars a tonne from 27,700 dollars. Three-month lead gained to 3,260 dollars a tonne from 3,030 dollars. Three-month zinc climbed to 2,490 dollars a tonne from 2,350 dollars. Three-month tin increased to 17,550 dollars a tonne from 16,897 dollars. Grains and soya: Soya surged to a record peak at 14.28 dollars on Tuesday, while maize enjoyed a historic closing high of 5.24 dollars a bushel on Thursday. “We are in an uptrend with a lot of investment fund money pushing the market this week to new highs,” said US Commodities analyst Dax Wedemeyer. He added that runaway crude oil prices had underscored bumper gains for corn or maize, which is used to produce ethanol, a clean plant-based fuel. By Friday on the Chicago Board of Trade, wheat for May delivery rose to 10.35 dollars a bushel from 10.27 dollars the previous week. May-dated soyabean meal used in animal feed soared to 14.24 dollars from 14.05 dollars. The price of maize for March delivery advanced to 5.21 dollars a bushel from 5.14 dollars a week earlier. On LIFFE, the price per tonne of wheat for November delivery rose to 155.50 pounds from 153.80 pounds a week earlier. Cocoa: Cocoa prices surged to multi-year peaks in London and New York. “This market, and many in the softs complex, seem to be ... influenced by the large quantity of seemingly endless (investment) fund money that they are attracting,” said Sucden analyst Stephanie Garner. By Friday on LIFFE, London’s futures exchange, the price of cocoa for May delivery rallied to 1,324 pounds a tonne from 1,311 pounds a week earlier. On the New York Board of Trade (NYBOT), the May cocoa contract spiked to 2,567 dollars a tonne from 2,530 dollars a week earlier. SUGAR: Sugar prices also gained ground on fund buying. By Friday on LIFFE, the price per tonne of white sugar for May delivery jumped to 376 pounds from 372.10 pounds a week earlier. On NYBOT, the price of unrefined sugar for May delivery stood at 14.35 US cents a pound compared with 13.68 cents for the March contract the previous week. Rubber: Rubber prices stretched higher, backed by weak supplies and strong demand from China and Europe. Production in several major producing countries including Malaysia and Thailand was hampered by the dry season, which means that trees produce less latex. On Friday, the Malaysian Rubber Board’s benchmark SMR20 increased to 277.40 US cents per kilogramme from 268.30 US cents last week. Wool: The Australian wool market finished 2.1 percent lower on average, owing to abundant supplies. The Eastern Index slid to 9.74 Australian dollars a kilo, from 9.92 Australian dollars a week earlier.

2008-02-26T10:07:00.000-08:00

2008-02-26T10:03:00.000-08:00

U.S. Economy Ranks as World’s Most Competitive
Innovation, market efficiency contribute most to U.S. standing

Washington -- The U.S. economy has regained its ranking as the world's most competitive, largely as a result of its efficient markets and corporate innovation, according to a major report.
Following the United States were Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden and Germany in the 2007 edition of The Global Competitiveness Report, published by the World Economic Forum (WEF), an international research and policy-support group. In 2006, the U.S. economy ranked Number 6 in overall competitiveness.
“The efficiency of the country’s markets, the sophistication of its business community, the impressive capacity for technological innovation that exists within a first-rate system of universities and research centers, all contribute to making the United States a highly competitive economy," said economist Xavier Sala-i-Martin, a co-editor of the report.
However, the report warns that macroeconomic imbalances, including current account deficit, and some weaknesses of U.S. institutions “pose a risk to the country’s overall competitiveness potential.”

2008-02-26T10:02:00.000-08:00

U.S. Economy Is Fundamentally Strong, President Says
Short-term stimulus package designed to stave off a downturn

Washington -- President Bush and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke have emphasized to world economic markets that the U.S. economy remains fundamentally resilient and concerns about a slowdown in growth could be ameliorated by a short-term stimulus package.
"[The U.S. economy] has a strong labor force, excellent productivity and technology, and a deep and liquid financial market that is in the process of repairing itself. So I think we need to keep in mind also that the economy does have inherent strengths and that those will certainly surface over a period of time," Bernanke said during testimony before the U.S. House Budget Committee January 17. Periodically during the year, Bernanke testifies before Congress on the current economic outlook and future trends.
Coinciding with Bernanke's remarks about the continuing strength of the U.S. economy, President Bush announced January 18 that he is asking Congress for a short-term economic stimulus package to help avoid a slowdown in the economy and to help reassure world markets he is prepared to act swiftly.
"Our economy has a solid foundation, but there are areas of real concern. The economy is still creating jobs, though at a reduced pace. Consumer spending is still growing, but the housing market is declining. Business investment and [trade] exports are still rising, but the cost of imported oil has increased," Bush said in a televised White House address

Washington -- President Bush and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke have emphasized to world economic markets that the U.S. economy remains fundamentally resilient and concerns about a slowdown in growth could be ameliorated by a short-term stimulus package.
"[The U.S. economy] has a strong labor force, excellent productivity and technology, and a deep and liquid financial market that is in the process of repairing itself. So I think we need to keep in mind also that the economy does have inherent strengths and that those will certainly surface over a period of time," Bernanke said during testimony before the U.S. House Budget Committee January 17. Periodically during the year, Bernanke testifies before Congress on the current economic outlook and future trends.
Coinciding with Bernanke's remarks about the continuing strength of the U.S. economy, President Bush announced January 18 that he is asking Congress for a short-term economic stimulus package to help avoid a slowdown in the economy and to help reassure world markets he is prepared to act swiftly.
"Our economy has a solid foundation, but there are areas of real concern. The economy is still creating jobs, though at a reduced pace. Consumer spending is still growing, but the housing market is declining. Business investment and [trade] exports are still rising, but the cost of imported oil has increased," Bush said in a televised White House address

2008-02-26T09:58:00.000-08:00

Economic Growth Decline Predicted for 2008, with Rebound in 2009
U.S. economy remains resilient, secretary of state tells Economic Forum

Washington -- The pace of U.S. economic growth will slow somewhat through 2008, and an economic rebound is likely to begin early in 2009 as the housing and financial sectors improve, says a Congressional Budget Office forecast.
Peter Orszag, director of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), said in testimony before several congressional budget and finance committees that the current economic weakness was created by tight credit, a housing crisis and rising oil prices. The CBO provides Congress at least two economic outlook forecasts annually.
"The state of the economy is particularly uncertain at the moment. The pace of economic growth slowed in 2007, and there are strong indications that it will slacken further in 2008," Orszag said January 24 in congressional testimony. "In CBO's view, the ongoing problems in the housing and financial markets and the high price of oil will curb spending by households and businesses this year and trim the growth of [the gross domestic product]."
A nation's gross domestic product (GDP) is the total market value of all final goods and services produced by a nation. It generally includes four components -- consumer spending, investment, government spending and exports and imports. For 2008, CBO estimates the U.S. GDP to reach approximately $13.67 trillion and will rise further to $14.2 trillion in 2009.

A stock broker monitors volatile trading action in London on January 23. (© AP Images)
In congressional testimony, Orszag said it is not likely the U.S. economy will worsen beyond the expected slowing in growth, but the estimate of the gross domestic product is revised throughout the year as conditions change. "CBO expects the economy to rebound after 2008, as the negative effects of the turmoil in the housing and financial markets fade," he said.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, speaking January 23 at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, said the U.S. economy remains a leading engine for global economic growth, and world markets should have confidence in the underlying strength of the global economy.
"I know that many are concerned by the recent fluctuations in U.S. financial markets, and by concerns about the U.S. economy," she said. "The U.S. economy is resilient, its structure is sound, and its long-term economic fundamentals are healthy. The United States continues to welcome foreign investment and free trade."
On January 18, President Bush announced he was asking Congress to pass a temporary economic package designed to stimulate consumer spending and business investment. He said the stimulus package would amount to about 1 percent of GDP, or between $140 billion and $145 billion, though the final amount could reach as high as $150 billion.
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Republican Minority Leader John Boehner announced January 24 that a deal had been struck between the White House and Congress to provide a stimulus package of tax rebates for consumers and incentives for business investment. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told the Reuters news agency that the bipartisan package could be sent to Bush for his signature by mid-February.
That action in fiscal policy by the president was matched by the U.S. Federal Reserve on January 22 in monetary policy when it lowered interest rates to encourage banks to lend money to businesses and stimulate investment. That action helped world stock markets rally and recover from a trading slide that began earlier.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said in congressional testimony that he sees an economic stimulus package as effective in blunting recent economic turmoil as long as the stimulus package is timely, targeted and temporary.

2008-02-26T09:55:00.000-08:00

U.S. in role of wounded giant at Davos

DAVOS, Switzerland: The United States has filled various roles at the World Economic Forum over the past decade: dot-com dynamo, benevolent superpower, feared aggressor, and now, wounded giant.
On the first day of this conference, a parade of bankers, economists, and political officials expressed deep fears about the faltering American economy, peppered with blunt criticism of its institutions, chiefly the Federal Reserve, which some accused of sowing the seeds of today's crisis.
George Soros, the financier who made a fortune betting against the pound, went so far Wednesday as to say that the downturn would put an end to the long status of the dollar as the world's default currency.
"The current crisis is not only the bust that follows the housing boom," Soros said. "It's basically the end of a 60-year period of continuing credit expansion based on the dollar as the reserve currency."
Signs of a new economic order abounded in this Swiss ski resort: the minister of commerce and industry of India, Kamal Nath, noted that China had overtaken the United States as India's largest trading partner - buttressing his view that India could largely sidestep an American recession
The head of the National Bank of Kuwait, Ibrahim Dabdoub, said Americans who opposed sovereign wealth funds like the one run by his government needed to come to terms with the new reality.
Completing the role reversal, Nouriel Roubini, an American economist, said, "the United States looks like an emerging market," with large budget deficits and a swooning currency. By contrast, he said, Brazil, an actual emerging market, had done a better job of overhauling its economy.
Roubini, whose frequent predictions of a downturn have made him something of a soothsayer in Davos, predicted the United States would suffer a recession lasting at least a year. He foresees a flood of defaults on car loans and corporate bonds, as well as a prolonged bear market.
"The debate is not whether we're going to have a soft landing or a hard landing," he said. "The question is only how hard the hard landing will be."
Several economists said the Federal Reserve seemed to have lost control of events since the subprime crisis erupted last summer. Some criticized its steep cut in interest rates Tuesday as a knee-jerk reaction to calm the markets rather than a sound response to a deteriorating situation
Policy makers are reaching back into the same playbook that got us into this mess in the first place," said Stephen Roach, an economist who recently became the chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia.

2008-02-26T09:42:00.000-08:00

American Stock Exchange Lists Units of Asia Special Situation Acquisition Corp

NEW YORK, Jan. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Stock Exchange(R) (Amex(R)) today lists the units of Asia Special Situation Acquisition Corp. under the ticker symbol CIO.U. The offering size is 10,000,000 units at $10.00 per unit for gross proceeds of $100,000,000 (excluding the underwriters' over-allotment option). One unit consists of one ordinary share and one warrant to purchase one ordinary share. Initially, the units will be the only security trading. Maxim Group LLC is the lead underwriter on this IPO.
Asia Special Situation Acquisition Corp. is a newly organized company formed for the purpose acquiring all or a majority interest in one or more operating businesses, through a capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, or other similar transaction, including obtaining a majority interest through contractual arrangements. The Company intends to identify prospective acquisitions that are either located in Asia, provide products or services to consumers located in Asia, or invest in Asia.
"We are pleased to welcome Asia Special Situation Acquisition Corp. to the American Stock Exchange," said Neal Wolkoff, Chairman and CEO of the Amex. "We look forward to working with the Company in building increased awareness and visibility with U.S. investors."
Angela Ho, Chairman and CEO of Asia Special Situation Acquisition Corp., stated, "We are excited to be listed on the American Stock Exchange, and we look forward to creating value for our shareholders. We intend to leverage the extensive relationships of our management to source an attractive business combination."
The specialist in Asia Special Situation Acquisition Corp. is Kellogg Capital Group LLC. For further information on CIO.U and other Amex-listed companies, please visit www.amex.com.
About American Stock Exchange
The American Stock Exchange(R) (Amex(R)) offers trading across a full range of equities, options and exchange traded funds (ETFs), including structured products and HOLDRS(SM). In addition to its role as a national equities market, the Amex is the pioneer of the ETF, responsible for bringing the first domestic product to market in 1993. Leading the industry in ETF listings, the Amex lists 381 ETFs to date. The Amex is also one of the largest options exchanges in the U.S., trading options on broad-based and sector indexes as well as domestic and foreign stocks.

2008-02-26T09:41:00.000-08:00

EUR/USD (1.4823)European & US sessions forecast levels: 1.4745/1.4860Trend Sessions: European – Neutral/DownwardUS – NeutralMarket Focus: 10:00 AM Existing Home Sales, 4:00 AM Italian Retail Sales, 1:50 PM ECB President Trichet Speaks.Daily Strategy: The fears about the high Euro Zone inflation stop the rumors and speculations about eventually interest rates cut by ECB. With so high inflation the chances for cut of the interest rates in the Euro Zone are minimal. The new jump of the oil prices will hurt serious the world economy and will pump the inflation. For today we expect temporary recovery of the dollar during the European session. If the dollar break above 1.4860 will follow levels of 1.4920/25.