Business and Finance

The Toronto Stock market ended the session in positive territory after investors pulled up energy stocks in hopes that Exxon Mobil's US$31-billion acquisition of U.S. oil and gas company XTO Energy Inc. could mean other deals in the sector.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed 121.76 points higher to 11,545.69, with shares of nearly every major Canadian energy player higher.

The energy sector was up 2.2 per cent as investors speculated over other possible takeovers within the industry.

The January crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange closed the session down 36 cents to US$69.51 a barrel.

Meanwhile, Abu Dhabi's $10-billion bailout to Dubai gave markets a jolt of optimism. The debt repayments quelled fears that the emirate would default and signal a new round of broader credit problems.

"What we're seeing is continued small steps towards fixing in the financial system, towards strengthening the various places that are weak," said Kate Warne, Canadian markets specialist at Edward Jones in St. Louis.

"That certainly doesn't eliminate all the possible things that can go wrong, but every small step is a step in the right direction."

TSX gold stocks were up 1.5 per cent as the February bullion contract on the Nymex rose $3.90 to US$1,122.80 an ounce.

The base metals sector launched the biggest gain of the day, up 2.9 per cent as the March copper contract gained two cents to US$3.15 a pound.

The Canadian dollar gained 0.05 of a cent to 94.40 cents U.S., while the TSX Venture Exchange was up 7.97 points to 1,425.08.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average moved up 29.55 points to 10,501.05. The Nasdaq composite index gained 21 guaranteed payday loan.79 points to 2,212.10, while the S&P 500 index climbed 7.7 points to 1,114.11.

Citigroup Inc. said it will pay back $20 billion in bailout money it received as part of the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program.

The New York-based bank was hardest hit by the credit crisis and rising loan defaults, receiving a total of $45 billion in government support. It only needs to pay back $20 billion because the remaining $25 billion was converted into a 34 per cent ownership stake in the bank earlier this year.

Statistics Canada reported that Canadian industries operated at 67.5 per cent of their production capacity in the third quarter, down marginally from 67.7 in the second quarter.

Also in the energy sector, Husky Energy Inc. (TSX: HSE) shares moved higher after the company said it plans to increase its capital spending by 20 per cent to $3.1 billion in 2010. Shares rose 1.6 per cent, or 48 cents, to $28.98.

Inter Pipeline Fund (TSX: IPL.UN) units gained 11 cents to $10.93 after the company announced it plans capital expenditures of more than $292 million next year, with most of it going toward its oil sands transportation segment.

TMX Group (TSX: X) shares were up 98 cents to $31.34 after it announced it will distribute trading data across U.S. and Europe on NYSE network under new data technology and distribution agreement.

Kirkland Lake Gold Inc. (TSX: KGI) said a borehole collapse widened net losses to $10.3 million for the quarter ended Oct. 31, and weakened revenues to $6.9 million, from $8.8 million last year. Shares rose 16 cents to $9.45.

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An "excessively loud" triceratops and a little girl’s chemical-laced purse were among the items listed in the U.S. Public Interest Research Group’s 2009 list of dangerous toys released Tuesday.

The 24th annual report, "Trouble in Toyland," targeted 16 examples of toys in 3 categories: toys that it considers dangerously loud, or containing small parts that may present choking hazards for small children, or containing toxic chemicals or lead.

The toys are made or marketed by various companies throughout the world.

Small parts

In the first category, the PIRG, a public advocacy organization, listed toys that "pose potential choking hazards." This included three toys that "may violate" the ban on small parts for children under three, such as the Creative Wood Stacking Rings from Zaidy Products, the Real Wood Shape Sorter Barn from P&C Enterprise and an "unnamed play food tray" from World Market.

The PIRG also identified several toys with small parts that come uncomfortably close to violating bans, thereby posing potential hazards. This includes one of the Baby Born toy kids from Zapf Creation, the Pizza Planet Gift Pak from Mattel, the FurReal Baby Bird from Hasbro (HAS) and the Worky tool set from Nemmer.

"Although the toys do not violate the letter of the law, these parts could block a child’s airway given their shape and size," the report said.

The report said that the baby bottle included with the FurReal Baby Bird "barely passes the small parts test." But Hasbro said the "allegations are false."

"The FurReal Friends product does not contain small parts, is properly age graded for kids four and up, and the packaging contains the appropriate labeling," said a Hasbro spokeswoman, in an e-mail.

Excessively loud

The PIRG also listed several toys deemed "excessively loud" at close range, meaning that they match or exceed 85 decibels within 25 centimeters of the toy, presenting a risk of hearing loss.

The organization pegged the loud toys as the Kota and Pals Stompers Triceratops from Playskool, the Secret Saturdays Cryptid Claw from Mattel (MAT, Fortune 500), the Laugh & Learn Learning Phone from Fisher Price and the Bright Lights Phone from VTech.

Hasbro said, in an e-mail to CNNMoney.com, that its triceratops "complies with all sound requirements."

Lead and chemicals

Five products made the list for containing lead or "potentially toxic chemicals."

This includes a Touch and Feel Cloth Book called "Big Rex and Friends" from Priddy Books. The PIRG said that a red dot on one of the pages contains lead. Likewise, the Alligator Cell Phone charm from the Claire’s retail chain also contains lead, the organization said easy payday loan.

The organization also identified a Collector’s Series toy duck that has lead paint on its face and body. The organization said that the manufacturer of this toy was unknown, but that it was purchased at a Dollar Tree store.

A Dollar Tree spokesman told CNNMoney.com that PIRG informed his company of the lead-tainted duck on Oct. 29, and it was removed from stores at that time.

The PIRG identified two toys containing "potentially toxic" chemicals known as phthalates, including Pretty Princess Puppy Purse from Claire’s and the Elmo Lunch Bag from Fast Forward New York. (See correction.)

A spokesman for Claire’s, Steven Anreder, said the retailer is no longer selling the alligator phone charm. He also said the charm and the puppy purse are not toys.

The organization initially reported that Sassy manufactured the Elmo Lunch Bag. But Rick Locker, a lawyer representing Sassy, told CNNMoney.com that Sassy had nothing to do with the product. He sent the PIRG a letter requesting them to "cease and desist from disseminating erroneous information." The PIRG retracted the misidentification and said it regretted the error.

Efforts to reach other companies named in the report were not immediately successful.

A toy industry group reacted to the PIRG list.

"Protecting children will always be the toy industry’s highest priority," said Joan Lawrence, vice president of safety standards for the Toy Industry Association, in an e-mail to CNNMoney.com. "Consumers have every reason to trust the safety of the three billion toys sold in America each year."

Jonathan Samet, publisher of thetoyinsider.com, an industry observer, said that he didn’t want to minimize PIRG’s warnings, but the noise warnings did not concern him as much as choking and lead.

"Choking is obviously the biggest issue," he said. "Right now, I think safety testing is at its highest level that it’s probably ever been. If you are concerned, then take the toy away from the child and either return the toy to the retailer or just throw it away."

The PIRG released its list just three days ahead of Black Friday, one of the busiest shopping days of the year. This year, Black Friday retail sales are expected to outpace 2008, with 16% more shoppers participating.

Correction: An earlier version of this article, because of erroneous information released by U.S. PIRG, listed an incorrect manufacturer of the Elmo Lunch Bag.  

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Home builders initiated construction of far fewer new homes in October than the month before, a big and unexpected drop for the struggling industry, according to a government report issued Wednesday.

Homebuilders began construction at an annual rate of 529,000 new homes during the month, 10.6% below the revised September rate of 592,000 and 30.7% below the 763,000 rate during October 2008. It was the lowest level of housing starts since April, when the annual rate was 479,000.

A panel of industry observers compiled by Briefing.com had forecast housing starts of 600,000 during the month. It was the second month in a row of dashed housing start expectations.

"The numbers stink," said real estate analyst Mike Larson of Weiss Research. "They’re negative across the board."

That weakness included the number of building permits issued in October, which fell to seasonally adjusted annual rate of 552,000. That was 4% below the revised September rate of 575,000 and 24.3% below the October 2008 estimate of 729,000.

The slowdown in construction means that there are many fewer new homes for sale, about 251,000 in all. That’s the smallest inventory since 1982, according to Larson.

"The new home market, which was dramatically oversupplied during the boom, is now dramatically undersupplied," he said.

Part of the reason for the lack of building activity is high foreclosure rates cash advance now. Those discourage builders, according to Larson. Many of the foreclosures compete directly with new homes for buyers.

"That’s one reason why builders are not being aggressive," he said. "There are a lot of nearly new homes that banks are holding and trying to sell. That keeps the new home market relatively weak."

Since the tax credit was reinstated, October may represent a deep valley in new home start stats. By then, the credit had ceased to be of value to builders, according to David Crowe, the chief economist for the National Association of Homebuilders.

"By October, there was no way to start a home and have time to finish it and sell it before the credit ended," he said.

Crowe expects to see starts to begin increasing again with the tax credit extension. "November figures should reflect some renewed builder confidence," he said.

New home construction forms a big part of the nation’s economy. When people buy new homes, they also purchase many products to fill them.

Fewer new homes being built may be a bad sign that the impact of the government’s economic stimulus package may be limited. 

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The cost of living in the U.S. rose more than forecast in October as Americans paid more for fuel, while so-called core prices held at a pace that supports the Federal Reserve’s forecast for tame inflation.

The 0.3 percent rise in the consumer-price index followed a 0.2 percent increase in September, figures from the Labor Department showed today in Washington. Excluding food and energy costs, the core index rose 0.2 percent for a second month.

Unemployment at a 26-year high of 10.2 percent and wages that were down 5.2 percent in September from a year earlier are giving companies such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. little room to raise prices. Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said Nov. 16 that the economic “headwinds” will limit the recovery, allowing interest rates to stay low for an “extended period.”

“I don’t see anything in the report that suggests there’s any real inflation flare-up,” said Joseph LaVorgna, chief U.S. economist at Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. in New York. “The Fed is comfortably on hold.”

Economists forecast the consumer price index would rise 0.2 percent, according to the median of 78 projections in a Bloomberg News survey. Estimates ranged from a decline of 0.2 percent to a rise of 0.5 percent.

The core index was forecast to rise 0.1 percent, according to the Bloomberg survey.

Housing Starts Fall

U.S. stock-index futures erased gains after the Commerce Department said housing starts unexpectedly plunged 11 percent last month to the lowest level since April. Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index were down 0.1 percent to 1,106.0 at 9:02 a.m. after rising as much as 0.3 percent.

Treasuries remained lower after the consumer price report and before the U.S. announces tomorrow the amounts of 2-, 5- and 7-year notes it will sell next week. The 10-year note yield rose two basis points to 3.34 percent at 8:35 a.m. in New York.

Compared with a year earlier, consumer prices were down 0.2 percent. Core prices rose 1.7 percent from October 2008 after a 1.5 percent year-over-year gain in September.

Energy costs increased 1.5 percent in October, led by fuel oil and gasoline.

The year-over-year declines in the consumer price index are getting smaller as crude oil prices increase from an almost five-year low in December 2008.

Crude Oil

The U.S. on Nov. 10 raised its forecast for crude oil prices this year and next on speculation that demand will rise as the global economy improves. West Texas Intermediate oil, the U loan till payday.S. benchmark, will average $62 a barrel in 2009, up from last month’s forecast of $59.90. Crude oil will average $78.13 in 2010, according to the monthly Short-Term Energy Outlook report from the Energy Department’s Energy Information Administration.

Crude oil traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange averaged $75.82 a barrel in October, compared with $69.47 in September. Prices have continued to increase this month, averaging $78.69.

Gasoline prices in October averaged $2.56 a gallon in October, compared with $2.55 a month earlier, according to AAA.

Food prices, which account for 14.6 percent of the CPI, increased 0.1 percent in October, reflecting higher dairy costs. Prices for meats and fruits and vegetables declined during the month.

Walmart Cost Cuts

Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, is experiencing “ongoing deflation across our businesses,” Michael T. Durke, the Bentonville, Arkansas-based company’s chief executive officer said Nov. 12. Walmart accelerated efforts to cut costs in the third quarter as falling food prices and the worst U.S. unemployment rate in a quarter century muted revenue.

Owners-equivalent rent, one of the categories used to track rental prices, was unchanged. In September, the measure dropped 0.1 percent, the first decline since 1992.

Costs of medical care increased 0.2 percent in October and are up 3.5 percent from the same month last year. Airline fares rose 1.7 percent last month.

The CPI is the broadest of the three monthly price gauges from the Labor Department because it includes goods and services. A report yesterday showed wholesale prices rose 0.3 percent. The cost of imported goods rose 0.7 percent, the government said last week.

Almost 60 percent of the CPI covers prices consumers pay for services ranging from medical visits to airline fares and movie tickets.

The Fed earlier this month repeated that it will keep interest rates near zero for “an extended period” and specified for the first time that policy will stay unchanged as long as inflation expectations are stable and unemployment fails to decline.

“Inflation seems likely to remain subdued for some time,” Bernanke said in a Nov. 16 speech to the Economic Club of New York. The weak labor market and reduced bank lending He also said “significant economic challenges remain.”

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Investors will brace for a spate of economic reports this week with their fingers crossed that there is more good news than bad since that will set the tone for the remaining seven weeks of the year.

With Black Friday less than two weeks away, retailers are hoping consumers will be willing to open their wallets during the all-important holiday sales period, helping fuel the economic recovery.

Kicking off the week will be the government’s monthly retail sales report, which investors hope will shed light on how much consumers will be willing to spend.

"Next week is all about consumer spending and the holiday," said Burt White, chief investment officer at LPL Financial.

Retail sales have shown some improvement recently, suggesting that consumers are suffering from "frugal fatigue" and may be more willing to splurge this holiday season, White said.

A rebound in consumer spending, which accounts for the bulk of U.S. economic activity, could help fuel bets that a recovery is firmly underway.

The outlook for consumer spending remains murky with the national unemployment rate at a 26-year high of 10.2%.

"In this environment, anything associated with jobs is probably the most important thing," said Quincy Krosby, market strategist at Prudential Financial.

To that end, investors will likely pay close attention to Thursday’s report on the number of Americans filing first-time claims for state unemployment benefits.

Investors will also focus on the plight of the U.S. dollar, which wallowed near a 15-month low against the euro for most of last week.

The dollar has been taking a beating recently as investors take advantage of rock-bottom interest rates in the United States to bulk up on more risky assets.

"For now, it’s still sell the dollar and buy risk," White said. "It’s a crowded trade, but a good one."

Stocks ended the week on a high note, logging the second consecutive week of gains as optimism about the recovery gained momentum. The question on investors’ minds this week will be ‘can that momentum be sustained?’

Eyes on Bernanke

Demand for riskier assets, like equities, could hit a speed bump Monday afternoon with Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke scheduled to deliver an economic outlook speech at the Economic Club of New York.

While the central bank is not responsible for managing currency fluctuations, some analysts think Bernanke may strike a more hawkish tone given the severity of the greenback’s recent weakness payday loan companies.

Others expect Bernanke to echo recent official policy statements that interest rates will remain "exceptionally low" for an "extended period" of time.

On the docket

Monday: The week starts with a closely watched report on October retail sales before the opening bell.

Economists expect the Commerce Department to report that sales rose 0.9% last month after 1.5% drop, according to consensus estimates gathered by Briefing.com.

Also due Monday morning, a report on manufacturing activity in the mid-Atlantic region and business inventory data from September.

Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke will speak about the outlook for the U.S. economy in New York at midday.

Tuesday: The government’s producer price index comes out before the market opens. Analysts think prices at the wholesale level ticked up 0.5% in October. Excluding volatile energy prices, the index is forecast to rise 0.1%.

Government figures on capacity utilization and industrial production in October are due out at 9:15 a.m. ET.

The market will also digest quarterly financial results from Home Depot (HD, Fortune 500), Target (TGT, Fortune 500) and TJX Companies (TJX, Fortune 500) before the opening bell.

Wednesday: The housing market will be in focus with reports on housing starts and building permits released before the market opens.

Also before the opening bell, the government’s closely-watched inflation gauge is expected to show that consumer prices were flat in October. Excluding food and energy, prices are expected to have risen 0.1% last month after a 0.2% increase the month before.

Thursday: The Labor Department reports on the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits at 8:30 a.m. ET.

Jobless claims fell to 502,000 filings last week and analysts say a figure below 500,000 this week could help push the market higher.

A report on leading economic indicators comes out after the market opens.

Sears Holdings (SHLD, Fortune 500) will report quarterly earnings in the morning, while PC giant HP (HPQ, Fortune 500) and apparel-maker Gap (GAP, Fortune 500) will post earnings after the closing bell.

Friday: No economic reports are on the docket. 

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EU antitrust regulators launched an investigation on Tuesday into news and financial data publisher Thomson Reuters’ use of its real-time market datafeed, saying it might block users moving to rival firms. The European Commission, which polices competition in the 27-country European Union, said the investigation was launched on its own initiative and that it did not imply it had proof of an infringement.

The Commission said it would examine whether Thomson Reuters could prevent clients from mapping Reuters Instrument Codes (RICs) to alternative identification codes of other datafeed suppliers.

“Without the possibility of such mapping, customers may potentially be ‘locked’-in to working with Thomson Reuters because replacing RICs by reconfiguring or by rewriting their software applications can be a long and costly procedure,” it said in a statement.

RICs — short, numerical codes that identify securities and their trading locations — are used to retrieve information from Thomson Reuters’ real-time datafeeds which are virtual pipelines of electronically distributed real-time market data that feeds software applications developed by banks and financial institutions.

Thomson Reuters confirmed it had received a questionnaire from the Commission on the use of RICs and that it was cooperating with the Commission easy payday loans.

“Thomson Reuters provides its customers with consistent, dependable and convenient access to several million financial instruments from almost every electronic trading venue around the world and a vast number of other sources of valuable high quality content,” the company said in a statement.

“Thomson Reuters data is reliably and consistently identified by a managed code, which we create and maintain to enable navigation of the company’s global content. Our customers are at the heart of our business and we continue to work with them to explore how best to add value to our data services.”

The statement added: “Thomson Reuters will fully cooperate with the EC Commission’s investigation which is at a preliminary stage.”

The company was formed last year by the merger of Thomson Corp and Reuters Group Plc. Its markets division competes with Bloomberg LP and News Corp’s Dow Jones Newswires.

There is no strict deadline for the Commission to complete its investigation.

(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee, editing by Timothy Heritage)

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Is the Fed about to hit the brakes on the Wall Street gravy train?

A year after they survived the financial meltdown with considerable taxpayer help, Goldman Sachs (GS, Fortune 500) and Morgan Stanley (MS, Fortune 500) stand to spend $35 billion combined this year on employee compensation.

The average Goldman worker is on track to take down more than $600,000 in pay and perks — in line with levels from 2007, before the economy cracked. Former Federal Reserve chief Paul Volcker said last month that Wall Street pay has gotten "grotesquely large."

But the bonus bubble could be peaking. After years of lassitude, the Federal Reserve is preparing to force big banks to abide by longstanding rules banning excessive or inappropriate banker pay.

What’s more, regulators appear to be paying special attention to the risks posed by the lucrative trading that has sent profits at firms like Goldman and JPMorgan Chase soaring just months after last fall’s brush with disaster.

Given the bruising the Fed has taken for its failure to act during the credit bubble, some commentators believe officials will flex their muscles.

"If they stand by the principles they laid out last month, we can expect them to give the big banks some pushback," said Eleanor Bloxham, who runs the Value Alliance/Corporate Governance Alliance advisory firm. "I think they’re going to continue to push on all this to make sure we don’t get another disaster like the one we just had."

The Fed said Oct. 22 that a review of bank pay practices will "focus on whether compensation arrangements provide employees incentives to take excessive risks that could threaten the safety and soundness of the banking organization."

Goldman and Morgan Stanley aren’t big deposit takers or lenders. But they are subject to federal oversight of their pay practices, thanks to last year’s decision to become Federal Reserve-regulated bank holding companies in the name of getting access to emergency funding.

A report last month from law firm Stroock & Stroock & Lavan notes that the Fed proposal "makes reference not only to employees commonly thought of as associated with banks, such as ‘loan officers,’ but also to ‘traders.’"

Traders are a natural focus for compensation scrutiny, given the enormous upsurge in trading profits at taxpayer-backed banks such as Goldman, JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500) and Citigroup (C, Fortune 500). Trading and principal investment revenue accounted for 81% of Goldman’s total revenue in the third quarter, up from 45% a year ago.

The big banks have benefited from numerous forms of federal assistance beyond the Troubled Asset Relief Program loans that many have since paid back. They have also issued tens of billions of dollars of federally insured bonds and gained from the Fed’s efforts to keep interest rates low.

"The problem is that there are a lot of subsidies with no strings attached, and now these guys are making huge sums of money," said Mark Sunshine, who runs a financial advisory firm that specializes in financial institutions. "Why should so many of the benefits flow to the traders?"

For now, they do because a dearth of competition and a rebound in financial markets has fed a profit surge at Goldman. Though it and Morgan Stanley are now Fed-regulated, they carry on the Wall Street tradition of paying out roughly half their revenue as employee compensation.

Both firms say their policies encourage pay for performance, balance short-term and long-term goals and discourage excessive risk-taking. Goldman says its compensation principles are in line with the guidance issued by the Financial Stability Board overseen by the Group of 20 rich nations.

But Bloxham said it’s not clear that either firms has addressed the core of the Fed’s proposal, which dictates that pay be based on so-called risk-adjusted returns.

Goldman says it manages prudently and conservatively. But the amount it stands to lose in a given trading day has risen since last fall.

Goldman has trumped that statistic by winning a huge proportion of its bets. The firm said this week its trading desk managed to make money on 64 of the 65 business days in the third quarter, including 36 $100 million-plus daily profits.

Todd Gershkowitz, a senior vice president at compensation consultant Farient Advisors, said those numbers show the runaway pay game hasn’t changed on Wall Street.

"They’re still accruing bonuses the same way they’ve done for 20 years, regardless of whether those revenues are high quality revenues," said Gershkowitz, speaking generally of big Wall Street firms. "The problem is that no one is pounding on the door saying cut this back."

Given that the sums set aside for bonuses come directly out of shareholders’ pockets, Sunshine wonders why Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley haven’t faced more questions about their pay levels.

"Will the trader making x millions of dollars really walk if you cut that back?" he asks. "I don’t understand why the shareholders aren’t going nuts."  

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Wynn Macau’s strong debut in Hong Kong on Friday shows appetite for gambling stocks is strong despite high valuations, and will cheer U.S. casino rival Las Vegas Sands, which plans a listing later this year.

Wynn Macau shares ended 6 percent higher at HK$10.70 versus an IPO price of HK$10.08, defying forecasts of, at best, a flat start due to its relatively high IPO price. The closing price valued the casino giant at $6.9 billion.

“For big-cap IPOs, its performance is pretty good,” said Peter Pak, vice president at BOCI Research. “Its pricing is not cheap, but Macau’s gaming revenue has been rising and that helped boost confidence.”

Wynn Macau’s $1.63 billion IPO, the world’s sixth-largest this year, could speed up the expected listing for Las Vegas Sands, which plans to raise up to $2 billion in a Hong Kong offering for its Asia assets, most notably in Macau.

Macau, once owned by Portugal and now a special administrative region under Chinese rule, is the world’s biggest gambling market and the only place in China where gambling is legal.

Gambling revenues hit a monthly high of $1.4 billion in August, a faster-than-expected recovery compared with Las Vegas, and revenues are expected to have been stronger still in September as China relaxed restrictions on its citizens crossing into Macau from Guangdong province.

“The timing is very opportunistic to do an IPO taking advantage of strength in the Hong Kong stock market and a renaissance, if you will, of the Macau market,” said Robert LaFleur, a U.S. gaming analyst with Susquehanna Financial Group, which is a market maker in Wynn shares no faxing pay day loans.

“It establishes some firm valuation benchmarks for Macau operations and that’s been very supportive of a fairly significant run in stocks like Las Vegas Sands and Wynn,” LaFleur added.

Wynn, which had a 16.4 percent market share of Macau in 2008, is one of a handful of gambling “pure plays” there, with Melco Crown Entertainment, Galaxy Entertainment Group and SJM Holdings.

The listing by the Asia unit of Wynn Resorts marked a major victory for Hong Kong’s stock market, netting its first IPO for a big global brand in years.

“Wynn is a known name compared with other recent IPOs that many people have not heard about, so it’s probably easier to sell,” said Nicholas Yeo, head of China and Hong Kong equities at Aberdeen Asset Management.

“The strong (Wynn) debut will boost the valuations of LVS’s IPO,” said Antonny Cheng, managing director at Gain Asset Management.

The Wynn Macau offering comes as the global IPO market heats up, encouraged by a rebound in stock markets worldwide. Santander Brasil and Verisk Analytics raised nearly $10 billion between them on Tuesday.

IPO JACKPOT

The strong reception for Wynn, and for Yingde Gases Group and Ausnutria Dairy Corp, among others, on Thursday, could also end a trend of weak performance in recent offerings as sentiment improves, brokers said. 

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The European Central Bank is expected to keep interest rates at a record-low 1.0 percent on Thursday and its head Jean-Claude Trichet will probably caution against high hopes of a speedy economic recovery.

The 16-country bloc is likely to have exited the worst recession since World War Two in the third quarter of the year but all 82 economists in a Reuters poll said they see no move in interest rates for the fifth month running, with most expecting them to stay unchanged until late next year.

The meeting, now underway in Venice, Italy, is the second of the two rate meetings held annually outside the ECB’s Frankfurt base, and marks the first anniversary of coordinated rate cuts by major central banks in the aftermath of the Lehman Brothers collapse.

The Reserve Bank of Australia on Tuesday became the first Group of 20 central bank to raise rates after the global recession, but the ECB is not expected to follow suit for some time.

While most analysts expect the next rate move to be a hike, they forecast that it will not happen before the third quarter of next year. But tighter liquidity conditions may push up market rates before that, futures pricing shows.

The Bank of England will also publish its rate decision on Thursday, and it is expected to keep its rates on hold at 0.5 percent.

At his news conference, ECB’s Trichet is seen confirming that current policy settings are appropriate and markets will listen any clues on the timing and order of the ECB’s exit strategy.

“Current rates are appropriate, that is a key sentence that will probably stay until well into next year,” Bank of America economist Holger Schmieding said online pay day loans.

But the ECB is unlikely to detail its exit strategy, just to repeat that it can exit when needed, he added.

Trichet’s comments on how governments should wind back their extra spending and how the ECB will take fiscal exit into account in its monetary policy decisions will also be key.

“They will definitely not do any explicit coordination (between fiscal and monetary exit strategies),” Schmieding said, but added: “There might be actually be a case that if fiscal policy is tightened in 2011, the ECB may take that into account and thus have an indirect impact on its rate policy.”

DOLLAR WEAKNESS

Trichet’s comments on economic recovery will also face close scrutiny. The euro-zone economy shrank by a revised 0.2 percent in the second quarter of the year, and analysts expect it to have grown 0.3 percent in the July-September quarter.

But even though the ECB meets in what many say is the most romantic city in the world, the Trichet is not expected to shower the markets with love, but caution on too much optimism.

ECB policymakers have said the road ahead would be bumpy, and Trichet is unlikely to change his tune just a month after the latest set of ECB staff economic projections. 

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Planning for retirement has never been as complicated — or as important — as it is now.

Last year’s financial meltdown was the second stock market disaster of the decade. Millions of baby boomers saw their savings wither just when they were eyeing retirement.

The collapse of the stock market had much less impact on people in their 20s and 30s. They had less to lose and have plenty of time to recover. For many others, though, the decline in 401(k)s and other investment accounts will force them to make difficult choices. Many will work longer than they expected. Others will forget about buying a second home in retirement or traveling as much as they had planned.

The crash and its effect on baby boomers highlight the risks that came with the revolution in how people finance their retirement.

For decades, a company pension was the key to the good life. With a defined-benefit pension, workers contribute nothing and receive a guaranteed monthly payment, or a lump sum at the start of retirement. Since 1980, pensions have been gradually replaced by 401(k)s. These are tax-deferred savings plans in which workers, and sometimes employers, make contributions, and the retirement payoff depends on how well the money was invested.

The number of families with only a company-provided pension fell from 40 percent to 17 percent from 1992 to 2007, according to one study. Those with a 401(k)-type plan reached nearly 80 percent from 32 percent.

"We’ve moved so much of the burden of saving onto the individual worker," says Blaine Aikin, CEO of Fiduciary360, which offers advice on retirement plans. "We also expect them to be able to manage it in a situation where even the professionals were baffled."

For years, personal finance experts have urged people to take a more active role in managing investments. The meltdown has made it even more critical. Financial planners say the rules haven’t changed. They just need to be applied.

The ultimate question is how much do you need to save? For starters, think about how you plan to live. Do you want to enjoy time with family, or dart around the globe? Either way, you’ll need to budget for it.

A general rule is that you need at least 75 percent of your gross income in the years just before retirement. There are several reasons why you need less than 100 percent:

— Income taxes are lower after retirement. There are extra deductions for those over age 65, some retirement income may be tax-free and, with less income, you’ll probably be in a lower tax bracket.

— Saving for retirement is no longer necessary.

— Social Security taxes disappear.

— Clothing and commuting costs will drop. Often, a person’s mortgage is paid off by retirement. But health care costs will climb. People over age 65 spend roughly 30 percent of their income on health care, said AARP Public Policy Institute.

One way to look at retirement spending is to separate necessities from nonessentials and save for them separately, says Jean Setzfand, AARP director of financial security.

Make sure the necessities are paid for through a guaranteed income stream, such as Social Security or a pension, if you have one, she says.

The optional expenses should be paid out of invested savings, the value of which may fluctuate. This method gives you much more security meeting your basic needs. If your investments do well, you can spend more on nonessentials.

When the market falls, however, it cuts to the bottom line for retirees and those close to retiring.

People between the ages of 55 and 64 saw 20 percent of their retirement savings evaporate during the meltdown, though a six-month market rally and continued contributions have restored much of that. Still, the average 401(k) balance for this group was down 2.6 percent on Sept. 1 from a year ago.

The volatile stock market has forced many people to pay more attention to what’s in their 401(k). In February, five months into the meltdown and a month before the market hit bottom, nearly a quarter of 401(k) participants ages 56-65 had at least 90 percent of their money in stocks, according to Employee Benefits Research Institute.

The good news is that 75 percent had less. But the first group and many in the second had ignored a basic rule: Adjust your investments the closer you get to retirement.

The question for many is how to restore some of the losses. A study by asset management firm T.Rowe Price indicates that a person with a salary of $100,000 can increase retirement income from investments by as much as 28 percent by postponing retirement from 62 to 65.

Another option to increase retirement income is to delay claiming Social Security. Each year you keep working, the monthly check would increase by about 8 percent.

Still, research suggests that you have to be prepared in case your plans get derailed. Various life situations, including an aging parent, health problems or a job loss, might prevent you from working as long as you want. Although the median retirement age was 62 in the EBRI study, nearly half said they left work sooner than they had planned.

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