The Legal Affairs Committee wants the Commission to propose new rules so that companies are not left in the dark on the investment policies of hedge funds or private equity investors who buy up their shares. They also want EU-wide measures to prevent asset stripping of companies targeted by private equity investors, and for much more light to be shed on pay and bonus packaged for fund managers.
Among issues already influencing the debate on next year's EU budget are the European Parliament's new legislative and budgetary powers if the Lisbon Treaty is ratified and the membership of the next Commission and EP. A report by Jutta HAUG (PES, DE) on the budget framework and priorities for 2009 is the first programming text adopted by MEPs as part of preparations for the EU's next annual budget.
The Producer Price Index for Finished Goods increased 1.8 percent in June, seasonally adjusted, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. This increase followed advances of 1.4 percent in May and 0.2 percent in April. At the earlier stages of processing, prices received by producers of intermediate goods rose 2.1 percent in June after moving up 2.9 percent in the prior month, and the crude goods index increased 3.7 percent following a 6.7-percent gain in May.
The current economic slump in the US has not had a major impact on the Asia-Pacific contact centre applications market in 2007. Except for the Philippines where some deals were deferred, almost all other Asia-Pac countries saw contact centres increasing their investments on equipment and applications to improve customer interaction services.
The taxes Americans pay as consumers - in retail stores, at the gas pump or for cigarettes - are trending higher, according to CCH, a Wolters Kluwer business and a leading provider of tax, accounting and audit information, software and services.
Where has the resources boom gone? I don't mean the one driven by iron ore or coal, nor oil, but by surging demand from China, India and the rest of the emerging world?
Markets should open lower to flat according to futures trading overnight, continuing the weaker trend of yesterday when it dropped by just over 1%. Oil finished over $US145 a barrel, gold rose and the US dollar eased against the euro to more than $US1.59.
Oil grabbed back all the losses of the week and hit a new high of $US147.27 in a dramatic day's trading on Friday. Friday's turmoil in sharemarkets in the US and in late trading in Europe over the fate of the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage groups was matched in commodities markets as oil jumped by around $US3.50 after Thursday's $US5.50-plus a barrel rise.
The Netherlands is to benefit from up to EUR 500 million in European Investment Bank loans to expand and modernise its natural gas transmission network. An initial contract for EUR 375 million has been signed with N.V. Nederlandse Gasunie and a further tranche of EUR 125 million could follow at the end of 2008 or early 2009. This would make the project one of the biggest ever financed by the EIB in the Netherlands.
