U.S President Barack Obama Considers Releasing From US s Oil Reserves

U.S strategic oil reserves.

The US is studying plans for a potential release of oil reserves to dampen rising gasoline prices and avoid the negative effect from its sanctions against Iran.
An report from Reuters cites "a source with knowledge of the situation " who says that the president is "dusting off old plans " to release crude oil from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
The US officials will be monitoring market conditions to see if gasoline prices go down after the September 3 Labor Day holiday, as they historically do, said the source.

China Urges Indigenous Firms To Invest In North Korea

China has announced plans to help major firms invest in North Korea, as the new leader Kim Jong-un is believed to be planning reforms aiming to bring its troubled economy back on the track.
"We will support big Chinese companies who are willing to invest in North Korea to broaden the economic and trade cooperation with North Korea, to push the two sides to upgrade two-way trade and investment structures and study the feasibility of cooperation on big projects," the Chinese Vice Commerce Minister Chen Jian wrote in a statement, Reuters reports.

India To Probe Google.

India to probe Google over alleged anti-competitive practices

India's antitrust regulator has launched a probe against Google over alleged anti-competitive practices, after a consumer advocacy group CUTS International filed a complaint.
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) received information that Google was abusing its dominant position by imposing unfair and discriminatory conditions.

EU Economy Shrinks By 0.2%

The economy of the eurozone shrank 0.2% from April to June compared with the previous quarter while the German and French economies showed signs of resilience. The figures, produced by Eurostat, covered the 17 countries that use the euro.
Eurozone’s two largest countries, Germany and France, beat market expectations for second-quarter growth.
Germany grew by 0.3% in the second quarter, helped by exports and domestic consumption whiel France reported zero growth.Both figures were stronger than economists had forecast.

Russia's Aeroflot Ranked Among World's Top Ten Carriers

Russia's Areoflot has been gaining international demand.

Aeroflot, Russia’s biggest airline has joined the World’s Top 10 most profitable companies, according to Air Transport World (ATW) magazine.

Russia: Novatek May Break Gazprom's Export monopoly

Oil pipelines at Russia's Novatek. Image credit RT.

In a report by RT,Gazprom, Russia’s natural gas export monopoly, appears to be loosening its grip on gas exports. The country’s second largest gas company Novatek, is due to start delivering natural gas to Germany’s EnBW.
Novatek will supply EnBW ,Germany’s third largest electric utility, with about 2 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually with the first deliveries scheduled for October 2012, Novatek's Financial Director Mark Gyetvay said on Tuesday.

China Trade Slowdown Raises Worries.

Growth in Chinese exports virtually vanished in July, according to the country's trade report Friday. Image credit CNN.

 In a CNN report, China's foreign trade growth slowed sharply in July, raising fears that economic weakness elsewhere in the world could put the brakes on the No. 2 economy.
Friday's report from China's General Administration of Customs showed exports up only 1% in the month compared to a year earlier, down significantly from the 11.3% growth rate in June and well below economists' forecasts.

Netflix CEO Buys $1 Million Worth Of Facebook Shares.

Reed Hastings Co founder Netflix.

Reed Hastings, the cofounder of Netflix (NFLX) and a Facebook board member, recently bought a cool $1 million worth of shares in the social network, according to a regulatory filing submitted Wednesday.
Hastings purchased roughly 47,800 shares at an average purchase price of $21.03 each.

Other investors aren't quite so eager to load up on Facebook (FB) shares. The company went public in May at $38 per share, but its stock has since tumbled, closing Friday at $21.81.
Facebook granted Hastings 20,000 restricted stock units when he joined the company's board in June 2011. Those shares haven't vested yet, though, so Wednesday's purchase marks his first stake in the company.

Etsy Blocks Sales Of Drugs And Human Remains

Etsy CEO Chad Dickerson.

 Etsy has become the go-to spot for homemade jewelry, knickknacks and household goods. Apparently, some have also been using the online marketplace to sell everything from drugs to human remains.

The online marketplace recently revised its policies, excluding from its list of sellable items such products as tobacco, hazardous materials and body parts. Hair and teeth are still allowed.

Britain's Top Share Index FTSE Eases Back From Four-Month Highs.

The London Stock Exchange building is seen in central London September 24, 2009. Credit: Reuters/Stephen Hird.

I n a report by Reuters,  Britain's top share index slipped back off four-month highs on Friday, weighed down by weakness in commodity stocks after poor trade data from China, the world's biggest consumer of metals.

Figures released on Friday showed China's exports grew just 1.0 percent in July from a year earlier, much weaker than market expectations for an 8.6 percent rise, while imports grew only 4.7 percent, against predictions for a 7.2 percent gain.

At 0807 GMT, the FTSE 100 index was down 3.6 points, or 0.1 percent at 5,847.91, having added 0.1 percent in the previous session to notch up a fifth straight session of gains, with the index having advanced around 3 percent over that period.

That strengthened the case for the People's Bank of China to move to bolster its economy, at a time when other major central banks are already under pressure - but not yet entirely willing - to act.

"It's been a good run but there is still a very fragile feeling to the market, exacerbated by the low summer volumes and lack of fresh news for direction aside from the will-they-won't-they on central bank stimulus measures," said Mike Mason, a senior trader at Sucden Financial.

"It's no surprise that those risk-sensitive sector, such as the miners and the banks which led the run up are slipping back on a quiet Friday," Mason added.

Miners retreated in line with a drop back by copper prices, which fell over 1 percent as a deteriorating economic backdrop overshadowed recent hopes by many that the recent weak data will push major economies like China towards more aggressive stimulus policies.

Rio Tinto, which saw good gains following well-received first-half results on Thursday, fell 1.0 percent.

Banks were also weak, although Barclays bucked the trend, adding 1.0 percent as investors welcomed the appointment of City grandee David Walker as its new chairman. That showed the bank moving quickly to fill a void and picking a corporate governance expert to lead a recovery from the Libor interest rate rigging scandal.

"This is an important step forward addressing key management gaps in the company," Mike Trippitt, banks analyst at Oriel Securities said.

Broker comment provided the reasoning behind the blue chip index's biggest gainer and its biggest faller.

Testing equipment firm Intertek Group added 1.6 percent with traders citing the impact of a target hike by Citigroup, to 3,150 pence from 2,800 pence.

Packaging group Bunzl, down 3.4 percent, was hit by a downgrade to "sell" from "neutral" by UBS, with the broker saying the stocks' 70 percent gain over the last 12-months leaves risk skewed to the downside.

"Although Bunzl is a ‘roll-up' story, its share price has historically been sensitive to its organic sales growth trend, which we expect to slow ... (and) while Bunzl's extensive re-rating anticipates future earnings per share (EPS) upgrades, we no longer see material upside to numbers," UBS said in a note.

Facebook To Invest In Online Gambling

Social Media Company Facebook. Image Credit FT.com

Facebook is venturing into the world of online gambling with the launch of its first application where punters can stake real money.
Starting on Tuesday, Facebook will offer users in the UK aged 18 and over the opportunity to play online bingo for cash prizes. Slot machine games will be added in the coming weeks.

Commerzbank’s retail arm records low performances.

Commerzbank, Germany's Second largest bank. Image Credit FT.com

Commerzbank is weighing options for its underperforming retail bank as Germany’s second-largest bank by assets continued to struggle under the burden of its legacy assets and the turbulence caused by the financial crisis.
Profits in retail banking in Germany were “not satisfying”, Commerzbank said, after operating profits from the division fell 35 per cent to €126m in the first six months of the year.
Commerzbank reported second-quarter net income of €275m, compared with just €24m in the same period last year. However in the first six months group net income fell from €1bn to €644m, with operating profits down by one-third at Commerzbank’s core operations, which include its retail, corporate and investment banking arms as well as its business in central Europe.