December jobs report: 155,000 new jobs, unemployment stays at 7.8 percent

The employment picture continues to improve, but Congress' budget battles remain a source of concern
The Labor Department reported on Friday morning that the economy added a solid 155,000 jobs in December, and that the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 7.8 percent — tied for its lowest level in four years. The report is the latest evidence that the labor market — after years of periodic setbacks — is now on a steady, if slow, climb out of the deep hole caused by the Great Recession.
In further good news, the Labor Department said that the economy created 161,000  jobs in November, up from its initial projection of 146,000.
In December, the private sector added 168,000 jobs, while the government — at the federal, state, and local levels — shed 13,000 workers. Construction companies added 30,000 jobs, the most since September 2011, which was partially attributed to efforts to rebuild areas in the Northeast ravaged by Hurricane Sandy.
It appears that the caustic fiscal cliff debate in Congress had a negligible impact on hiring, despite assertions that the cloud of uncertainty spewing from Washington, D.C., was causing businesses to think twice about making new labor investments. Businesses were reportedly immensely relieved that Congress found a way to extend the Bush tax cuts for all but the wealthiest Americans, as well as unemployment benefits, which act as a stimulus for economic growth.
However, concern lingers that looming budget battles in Congress could undermine the labor market's progress. In the next two months, the country faces the prospect of crippling spending cuts, a U.S. default on its debt, and a government shutdown — if Congress fails to act. "We may be seeing the calm before the storm right now," Ian Shepherdson, the head economist at Pantheon Macroeconomic Advisors, told The New York Times. "Small businesses are wringing their hands in horror at what's going on in Washington.

Read More..

Why this year's Oscars will be the least snooty ever

Finally, the Academy seems to realize that box-office success isn't a disqualifying factor
It happens every winter: A beautiful starlet wakes up at the crack of dawn to read a list of movies that will vie for Best Picture at the Academy Awards, and millions of people around the country groan. "Never heard of them," America says.
But this year — for the first time in many, many years — not only will a majority of the public have heard of most of the films likely to be nominated, they may have actually seen them, too. Yes, the annual tradition of griping over the disconnect between the Academy's affinity for little-seen arthouse fare and the public's taste for mass-appeal blockbusters may finally be interrupted — at least if precursor award organizations' rewarding of bona fide box-office hits like Argo, Lincoln, and Les Miserables continues. (And it will.)
SEE ALSO: Is Tom Cruise the right actor to play Jack Reacher?
Years of discontent over the snubbing of well-made, populist films finally came to a head in 2008, when The Dark Knight, one of the best-reviewed and most audience-cheered movies of the year, was excluded from the Best Picture race. Not only did Christopher Nolan's second Batman flick score over $500 million at the domestic box office, but its 94 percent approval rating on review-aggregator Rotten Tomatoes trounced eventual nominees The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (72 percent) and The Reader (61 percent), bested Frost/Nixon (92 percent), and tied Milk and Slumdog Millionaire — all while being exponentially more popular with movie audiences. Backlash to The Dark Knight's omission was so vitriolic that it seems to have spurred the Academy to expand the Best Picture category to 10 nominees the very next year. The idea, presumably, was to make room for Dark Knight-like movies released each year that are habitually dismissed by Oscar voters for lack of space.
This was only a moderate success. While films like Avatar, The Blind Side, and The Help have made it in since the change was enacted in 2009, those extra slots have typically been taken by quiet indies: A Serious Man, Winter's Bone, The Kids Are Alright, The Tree of Life. But this year, that's about to change.
SEE ALSO: Diagnosing the Home Alone burglars' injuries: A professional weighs in
Earlier this week, the Producers Guild Association, considered one of the more accurate Oscar predictors, nominated the operatic (and cash-guzzling) new Bond flick Skyfall for its Best Picture award, marking the first time that any of the 23 Bond films have been (seriously) in the Oscar conversation. Skyfall has been a mammoth commercial success, raking in $290 million in the U.S. alone. Oscar gurus currently have it ranked number 10 among likely nominees. If it does manage to scrape a Best Picture nod, it would join Argo, Les Miserables, Django Unchained, Lincoln, and probably Zero Dark Thirty as films that, by the time the Oscar ceremony takes place, will have crossed the $100 million threshold at the box office. In addition, likely nominee Life of Pi has already made more than $85 million, and will build on that total in the weeks to come.
That means that six likely Best Picture nominees (seven if you count Skyfall) will have made more than $85 million at the box office. Annoyingly complex new rules make it so that as few as five and as many as 10 films are nominated. But the upshot is that it's possible that those six (or seven) commercially successful films will actually be the only nominees. Compare that to last year, when only one nominee made that much at the box office (The Help). And really, for most of the last decade, the Best Picture race has been dominated by teeny-tiny indies. (Remember those box-office juggernauts Capote, Letters From Iwo Jima, and In the Bedroom?)
SEE ALSO: 7 awful Christmas movies that flopped
Water cooler conversations this winter are zeroing in on Anne Hathaway's stunning turn as Fantine in Les Miz, Daniel Day-Lewis' seamless portrayal of Abraham Lincoln, and Ben Affleck's second life as a first-rate Hollywood director — a rare occasion in which buzzy awards films are also just buzzy films in general, irrespective of their Oscar chances. Tuning into the Oscars this February 24 will finally become an active experience, with audience members actually being able to root for and judge nominees instead of shrugging the standard "haven't seen it" when contenders are introduced.
There could be several explanations for this shift. Perhaps after suffering years of blockbuster dreck — Transformers, Twilight, the latter Pirates of the Caribbean films — moviegoers are becoming more discerning with their box-office dollars. Or it could be that after producing years of blockbuster dreck, studios are wising up and making mass-market films that are actually good — The Dark Knight Rises, The Hunger Games, Ted, 21 Jump Street, and The Avengers are among 2012's rapturously reviewed commercial smashes. Or maybe Oscar voters are finally catching on to the growing frustration with out-of-touch awards picks each year.
SEE ALSO: 24 movies to see in 2013: Part two
Whatever the reason, it's a win-win situation. Oscar viewers want to be entertained and engaged by the telecast. Just look at how hosts' performances are mercilessly picked apart each year. Often, these performances are the only one Oscar audiences are familiar with. But when viewers have actually seen the nominees, they're far more likely to enjoy the broadcast.
As for the Academy: Its mission is rewarding art, yes, but it's also producing a television show. Thusly, it wants as many people as possible to watch its television show. Historically, viewership spikes when hugely popular movies up for major awards — the years of Titanic, Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, and Avatar saw upticks in viewership — and falls when most of the nominees are little-seen movies — the year of No Country for Old Men is the lowest-rated ever.
SEE ALSO: The 13 biggest pop culture moments of 2012
Certainly, no one's arguing that the Oscars should turn into the People's Choice Awards. No one wants The Expendables 2 and Madagascar 3 to get Best Picture nods just because they were popular at the box office. But a year in film in which the general public and the exclusive Academy seem to be seeing eye to eye is something to celebrate.

Read More..

Why repeating your message isn't the same as staying on message

Somewhere along the line, political consultants must have told politicians and their spokespeople to repeat their answers over and over again. The logic behind their recommendation: News organizations often have space for only a single quote per person, so if you utter the same sentence over and over again, they'll be forced to use it.
That may have worked many years ago, but it doesn't work anymore. Today's reporters shame repetitive pols by releasing the video of their full, evasive, interview. And it's not just broadcast reporters who shame obfuscating politicians — print reporters often post the video to their newspaper websites as well.
SEE ALSO: Guns need food. Starve them
Ed Miliband, Leader of the British Labour Party, offered a classic example of why the "repeat your message" strategy doesn't work anymore. In this video — which received hundreds of thousands of views and temporarily made Miliband a laughingstock — he repeats his exact same message five times.
SEE ALSO: Welcome to Tough Love with Starshine Roshell
And see if you can spot the message in this 2008 press conference delivered by Cullen Sheehan, then the spokesperson for Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.).
SEE ALSO: What's next for gay marriage?
Brad Phillips writes in his new book, The Media Training Bible, that such overt repetition tends to infuriate the audience. Instead, he recommends that politicians repeat the themes of their messages in every answer by using a combination of stories, statistics, and sound bites. By using variety, spokespeople can ensure that they stay "on message" without ever being overly redundant.
It's a good lesson for anyone who wants to be an effective communicator.

Read More..

Is gridlock inevitable in the 113th Congress?

The 112th Congress closed up shop to widespread jeers. Will its newly sworn in successor be any less ineffective?
Among the nicer things said lately about the extraordinarily ineffective, widely insulted 112th Congress: At least it was more popular than gonorrhea and North Korea. And now, with the 113th Congress having been sworn in Thursday, some analysts are speculating hopefully that, with 20 percent of Congress' members fresh-faced newcomers, the House and Senate just gaveled into session could not possibly be worse than their predecessors. Others, however, argue that the new Congress will remain plagued by the same deep divisions that stymied the 112th. The Senate will still be controlled by Democrats, whose majority was strengthened in the November elections, while the House is run by a Republican Party more determined than ever to insist on severe spending cuts after being forced to swallow tax hikes on the wealthy as part of the last-minute deal to avoid the worst effects of the fiscal cliff. With major fights looming over raising the debt ceiling and dealing with postponed fiscal-cliff spending cuts, will the new Congress be stuck in the same, old gridlock?
The 113th is doomed to the same crippling division: "There is no honeymoon ahead," say Sean Sullivan and Aaron Blake at The Washington Post. Republicans forced to cave on taxes will be out for payback in the coming debt-ceiling debate. Judging by John Boehner's narrow re-election as House speaker, plenty of Republicans remain "willing to adopt a stern posture and make a statement." And "more spats over cabinet confirmations will only fuel partisan divisions."
"5 reasons gridlock will seize Congress again"
SEE ALSO: 23 bizarre things ceremonially dropped on New Year's Eve
But lawmakers know voters won't tolerate more gridlock: The rancor that hobbled the 112th Congress is still rampant on Capitol Hill, economist Alice Rivlin tells The Jacksonville (Fla.) Times-Union. Still, "I am encouraged by the show of bipartisan cooperation" that it took to avert the fiscal cliff. Angry voters and business leaders have finally made politicians see that America wants lawmakers to work together to get things done.
"Angry voters will end all this gridlock, economist says"
This Congress will get a little more accomplished than the last one: There has been no sea change, say Halimah Abdullah and Ben Brumfield at CNN, so anyone expecting this Congress to "dissolve partisan gridlock" is dreaming. Still, "the incoming freshman class took notes on failures of the previous Congress in hopes of avoiding a repeat performance." It might manage to muster enough cooperation "to exceed the abysmal approval rating of the previous Congress.

Read More..

Is Promised Land unfair to the energy industry?

The new Matt Damon film, which tackles the controversy over hydraulic fracturing, has fracking fans crying foul
Promised Land, a Matt Damon-starring drama that hits movie theaters today, tells the story of a small town debating whether to allow a corporation to use its hydraulic fracturing (or "fracking") process to extract energy from their land. (Watch a trailer for Promised Land below.) Of course, over the past few years, fracking has become a hugely contentious issue pitting environmentalists — who argue that the process can have a devastating impact on the Earth — against industrialists, who argue that the process is a fair and relatively non-threatening way to draw oil and natural gas from land. Unsurprisingly, some in the energy industry have expressed concern that Promised Land will mark a permanent shift in the public opinion war over fracking. Does Promised Land offer genuine insight into the fracking debate, or is it unfairly stilted?
Promised Land is pretty fair to both sides — until the end: "It's easy enough to label Promised Land as the "anti-fracking movie" because, ultimately, that's what it becomes," says James Berardinelli at ReelViews. But for the majority of its runtime, the film actually attempts to offer "an evenhanded look at the issues associated with fracking," with Matt Damon's pro-industry character making a compelling case that the economic benefits for the townspeople override any possible environmental concern. But the film's abrupt shift into a preachy, cartoonish finale throws out any semblance of nuance in favor of a blatant anti-fracking message.
Even Promised Land's anti-fracking argument isn't very convincing: Promised Land may feature a strong cast, but "the star power is deceiving, and the energy companies might be smarter to ignore the film than fan the controversy by attacking it," says Liam Lacey at The Globe and Mail. "This film’s depth of insight into the practice of fracking is, literally, presented at a primary-school level," as one of the film's environmental activists tells a first grade class that chemicals can hurt water and animals. Fracking is a complicated issue that deserves an honest debate, and "it's a shame Promise Land doesn't put up a better fight."
And it isn't likely to encourage a serious debate: Promised Land illustrates "the potential pitfalls of narrative political cinema," says Jason Bailey at Flavorwire. If filmmakers want to make politically themed movies, "it must be done with more subtlety and tact than in Promised Land," which preaches to the choir by delivering its final moral "unambiguously and without much in the way of complexity." A serious narrative film that tackles fracking could (and should) still be made, but it would need to have the courage to present all the facts and let viewers come to their own conclusions.

Read More..

Silence, ringing of bells to honor victims of school massacre

NEWTOWN, Conn./WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Many Americans will remember the victims of the Newtown, Connecticut, school massacre with a moment of silence on Friday, just before a powerful U.S. gun rights lobbying group plunges into the national debate over gun control.
Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy called for residents of his state to observe the moment at 9:30 a.m. EST (1430 GMT) to mark a week since a 20-year-old gunman killed his mother and then stormed Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, where he shot to death 20 children and six adults before killing himself.
Malloy's fellow governors in Maine, Illinois, Michigan and several other states called on residents to follow suit with a moment of silence and to ring bells to remember the dead. The National Cathedral in Washington plans to ring its bell 28 times as part of an interfaith memorial.
"We have the moral obligation to stand for and with the victims of gun violence and to work to end it," said Reverend Gary Hall, dean of Washington National Cathedral, who called on Americans to pray "that we may have courage to act, so that the murderous violence done on Friday may never be repeated."
The company that operates the Nasdaq stock exchange said its operations would observe a moment of silence at 9:30 a.m., although market will open trading at that time as usual.
The observances will be held not long before the National Rifle Association, the largest U.S. gun rights group and one with powerful ties to Washington politicians, begins a media campaign to become part of the gun control debate prompted by the stunning slaughter of 20 children, all 6 or 7 years old.
Laws restricting gun ownership are controversial in the United States, a nation with a strong culture of individual gun ownership. Hundreds of millions of weapons are in private hands.
About 11,100 Americans died in gun-related killings in 2011, not including suicides, according to preliminary data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The NRA remained quiet for four days after the Newtown slaughter, citing "common decency." It released a short statement on Tuesday saying it was "prepared to offer meaningful contributions to help make sure this never happens again."
The group scheduled a news conference for 10:45 a.m. (1545 GMT) on Friday in Washington. NRA chief executive Wayne LaPierre planned to appear on the NBC television talk show "Meet the Press" on Sunday.
Some U.S. lawmakers called for swift passage of an assault weapons ban.
Vice President Joe Biden convened a new White House task force on Thursday charged by President Barack Obama with finding ways to quell violence.
"We have to have a comprehensive way in which to respond to the mass murder of our children that we saw in Connecticut," Biden told the group, which included Attorney General Eric Holder, Thomas Nee, president of the National Association of Police Organizations, and other officials.
The gunman, Adam Lanza, used a military-style assault rifle and police said he carried hundreds of bullets in high-capacity magazines, as well as two handguns. The weapons were legally purchased and registered to his mother, Nancy, his first victim.
By Thursday, funeral services had been held for more than half of the 27 people Lanza killed last week.
Newtown school officials said that Friday would be a shortened day for students heading into the Christmas break.
Reflecting a heightened state of alert at schools across the United States, a school district near Boise, Idaho, canceled planned assemblies at a number of its 50 schools after receiving a rash of threats that suggested "something bad" would happen on Friday, Meridian school spokesman Eric Exline said.
"The event last Friday in Connecticut has unnerved people in a lot of ways," he said.
The New Milford school district, near Newtown, canceled Friday classes "on the advice of the New Milford Police Department" but did not offer any further explanation.
In Florida, a 13-year-old student was arrested on Thursday after he allegedly posted a Facebook message threatening to "bring a gun to school tomorrow and shoot everyone," said the St. Lucie County Sheriff's office on Florida's east coast.
Police said the teen did not have any weapons and posed no threat to local schools. He was charged with making a written threat and is being held at a local Juvenile Detention Center.

Read More..

Putin in Brussels for Russia-EU summit focused on energy, Syria

BRUSSELS - Russian President Vladimir Putin is in Brussels for a summit with European Union leaders that is expected to focus on energy disputes and the Syrian crisis and could be marred by EU concerns about the Kremlin's clampdown on dissent.
For Putin, the main issue in Friday's talks is EU energy market regulations intended to boost competition, which Moscow has described as discriminatory against Russia's state-controlled Gazprom gas company.
European officials have warned Gazprom that it would have to allow third-party gas producers to use the prospective South Stream pipeline to comply with its new regulations. The EU's Third Energy Package bans suppliers from owning transit facilities such as pipelines.
Gazprom is also facing an EU probe to determine whether it violated competition rules by linking gas prices with prices for oil.
Yuri Ushakov, Putin's foreign affairs advisor, said that the energy discussions will dominate the summit. He said Putin raised the issues related to the Third Energy Package during his talks last month with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, voicing hope that she and other European leaders would grow more receptive to Russian arguments.
"We hope that the discussion with top EU officials will be constructive and help find a way out of the deadlock," Ushakov said at a briefing.
Russia has argued that South Stream, which will run under the Black Sea and circumvent the US- and the EU-backed Nabucco pipeline project, should be exempt from the market regulations. The pipeline's construction began earlier this month.
Europe gets about two-fifths of its gas from Russia. South Stream, along with the already-operating Nord Stream pipeline under the Baltic Sea, would allow Russian gas to bypass Ukraine and avoid the repetition of supply cutoffs to Europe that came amid Russia-Ukraine pricing disputes.
Alexander Konovalov, the head of the Institute for Strategic Assessment and Analysis, an independent Moscow-based think-tank , said Putin is unlikely to win any concessions for Gazprom as the EU's effort to diversify routes of supply has reduced Moscow's room to manoeuvr.
"The EU already has done a lot to diversify sources of energy supply, and it will continue doing so," he said. "Moscow will find it increasingly difficult to use gas as an instrument of political and economic pressure."
Another hotly contested subject at the negotiations would be Russia's increasingly impatient push for visa-free travel with EU countries. While the EU has argued that Russia's porous frontiers with its ex-Soviet neighbours make visa-free travel impossible just yet, the Kremlin has criticized EU officials for dragging their feet on the issue for years.
Syria is expected to dominate the discussion of international issues.
Russia has backed its last Middle East ally since an uprising against Syrian President Bashar Assad began in March 2011, using its veto power along with China at the U.N. Security Council to block three resolutions containing sanctions against Damascus.
But shortly before leaving for Brussels, Putin told a news conference that Russia recognizes the need for change in Syria. That did not appear to herald a change in policy, but added to the perception that Russia regards Assad's days as numbered.
Ushakov insisted that Russia won't change its "honest and principled" position on Syria and wouldn't allow the "repetition of the Libyan scenario," but he added that Putin's talk about Syria with the EU leaders could be "quite interesting."
The EU officials will likely raise issues related to a tough course on dissent Putin has taken since his inauguration in May for a third presidential term, which included arrests and searches of opposition activists and repressive laws aimed against protesters and non-government organizations.
Konovalov said Russia's rights record has adversely affected its ties with Europe.
"The lack of trust doesn't help encourage business activities and develop contacts," he said.
In a move that appears to reflect Moscow's desire to avoid further criticism at the summit, the Kremlin-controlled lower house postponed a debate on a controversial bill that would introduce sanctions for providing minors with information on homosexuality, which it termed "homosexual propaganda." Similar laws passed by regional legislatures in several Russian provinces caused dismay in the EU.

Read More..

Asian shares slide as U.S. budget impasse creates anxiety

TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares slid on Friday after a Republican proposal to deal with a U.S. fiscal crunch failed to get enough support, deepening uncertainty over the U.S. can avert the "fiscal cliff" of automatic spending cuts and tax increases set to start January 1.
"Markets disliked signs of further delay in talks, with the risk that a deal may not be reached by the end of the year deadline," said Yuji Saito, director of foreign exchange at Credit Agricole in Tokyo. "It clearly hit risk sentiment."
The U.S. House of Representatives will adjourn until after Christmas, Republican Representative Peter Roskam said on Thursday, after House Speaker John Boehner's proposed tax bill designed to avert the fiscal cliff failed to pass.
U.S. stock index futures fell sharply. S&P 500 stock futures slipped 1.7 percent, while Dow Jones stock futures and Nasdaq futures both lost 1.5 percent.
European shares will likely drop also, with financial spreadbetters predicting London's FTSE 100 <.ftse>, Paris's CAC-40 <.fchi> and Frankfurt's DAX <.gdaxi> will open down as much as 0.6 percent. <.l><.eu>
The worrying U.S. political news sparked selling in Asian shares, with MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan <.miapj0000pus> wiping out earlier gains to tumble 0.7 percent. The index was on track to end the week down 0.6 percent, the first weekly loss in five weeks.
Markets broadly had been supported by optimism that U.S. lawmakers would avoid the fiscal cliff, which threatens to derail the U.S. economy and drag down global growth with it.
Boehner's proposal was aimed at extracting concessions from the White House, which had threatened to veto it, and advance talks closer to a deal.
The Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives, which abruptly recessed on late Thursday, may return as soon as December 27 with a yet-to-be-decided new plan, said a senior party aide.
"This is a major setback for a Fiscal Deal compromise between the two parties. I would say that chances of a deal are down to maybe 40 percent from 65 percent -- despite the dysfunction in Washington D.C," said Douglas A. Kass, founder of hedge fund Seabreeze Partners Management Inc.
Risk assets were sold off, from shares, oil to currencies such as the Australian dollar and the euro. The yen firmed slightly, though it was pinned near multi-month lows versus the dollar and the euro on expectations for more aggressive Bank of Japan easing next year to drive the economy out of deflation.
"The delay in resolving the U.S. fiscal cliff problem is raising concern as the market expected some sort of positive direction out of the talks by the end of the year," said Fujio Ando, a senior managing director at Chibagin Asset Management.
Safe-haven government bond prices rose, with U.S. 10-year Treasury yields moving away from an 8-week high hit this week, falling about 6 basis points to 1.74 percent. Benchmark 10-year Japanese government bond yields also ticked down half a basis point to 0.765 percent.
Inflows into U.S. Treasuries underpinned the U.S. dollar, which inched up 0.1 percent against a basket of major currencies <.dxy>.
Jim Barnes, senior fixed income manager at National Penn Investors Trust Co. in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, saw Treasuries continuing to gain once U.S. markets open later, but expected a correction by the end of the day.
"Treasury yields will likely fall Friday morning and will begin to reverse course in the afternoon as investors become more optimistic a deal will be reached," Barnes said.
"So far, the market has been handling setbacks in negotiation talks very well. With still a little bit of time left on the clock, this time around will be no different."
Asset performance in 2012: http://link.reuters.com/muc46s
U.S. GDP: http://link.reuters.com/guw34t
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
Along with uncertainties surrounding the future of U.S. budget talks, a firmer dollar also weighed on dollar-based commodities.
The euro fell 0.3 percent to $1.3206, off an 8-1/2-month high of $1.33085 touched on Wednesday.
U.S. crude futures dropped more than $1 to $89.10 a barrel, but oil was still on track for its biggest weekly gain since August.
Spot gold extended losses to near a four-month low touched on Thursday, and was last down 0.1 percent to $1,644.90 an ounce. Gold remained on course for a 12th annual growth on rock-bottom interest rates, concerns over the euro zone financial stability and diversification into bullion by central banks.
YEN GAINS SLIGHTLY
Anxieties over the U.S. budget negotiations also took their toll on Japan's Nikkei average <.n225>, which had been supported by a weaker yen. The Nikkei gave up all of earlier gains to close down 1 percent and below the key 10,000 mark it reclaimed for the first time since early April on Wednesday. <.t>
The dollar was down 0.4 percent to 84.02 yen, moving away from a 20-month high of 84.62 yen hit on Wednesday.
The euro slumped 0.7 percent to 110.91 yen also off a 16-month high of 112.59 yen reached on Wednesday.
The yen was kept under pressure after the Bank of Japan further eased monetary policy as expected on Thursday, with investors anticipating that the central bank will be persuaded to pursue more drastic measures next year.
The incoming prime minister, Shinzo Abe, has called for bolder action by the central bank to help bring Japan out of decades-long deflation.
For all the fears of a fiscal cliff debacle to come, several data series showed the United States remained on a recovery track, helping to underpin the dollar.
(Additional reporting by Masayuki Kitano in Singapore, Jennifer Ablan in New York and Ayai Tomisawa in Tokyo; Editing by Richard Borsuk)

Read More..

Cyprus says suggestions of a haircut on its debt are unfounded

NICOSIA (Reuters) - Cyprus dismissed as unfounded on Thursday any suggestion the IMF is seeking a writedown of the island's debt before it agrees to participate in a multi-billion euro bailout.
Finance Minister Vassos Shiarly was responding to a German media report that the International Monetary Fund had advocated a haircut on Cypriot bonds as a condition for IMF participation in an aid programme for the euro zone member, which is heavily exposed to debt-crippled Greece.
"It is an unfounded allegation on which I do not wish to comment," Shiarly said.
"There is no issue of a haircut. These reports are allegations of a position allegedly taken by the IMF. The IMF has never made such a reference and it is unnecessary to even comment on it."
Cyprus, one of the smallest states in the euro zone, reached a preliminary deal with international lenders last month to get up to 17.5 billion euros in aid, equivalent to the entire annual output of its economy.
The bulk of that amount, or up to 10 billion euros, would go towards recapitalising banks badly hit by a restructure of Greek sovereign debt earlier this year, according to the draft of the deal.
Germany's Suddeutsche Zeitung newspaper said on Thursday that the IMF was concerned about the sustainability of Cyprus's debt and wanted to see private sector involvement in dealing with it.
Shiarly said the level of aid to Cyprus would only be definitively clarified by mid-January, when consultants complete an assessment of the island's banking system.
"It would be premature at this stage to discuss an issue of debt sustainability or not," he said, adding he expected it to be discussed at a euro zone finance ministers' meeting on January 21.
Cyprus approved on Wednesday its 2013 annual budget which calls for sweeping spending cutbacks and tax increases. The island says it plans to save up to 1.3 billion euros over a four-year adjustment period as its part of the bailout deal.
Austerity measures will keep the island in recession through 2013, with the government forecasting the economy will shrink 3.5 percent in 2013 after an expected 2.4 percent contraction this year.

Read More..

Juncker rules out haircut on Cypriot debt

BERLIN (Reuters) - Outgoing Eurogroup chief Jean-Claude Juncker on Friday dismissed the possibility of writing down Cypriot sovereign debt, saying that would risk the credibility of the euro zone.
"We didn't say all Greek speaking countries, we said Greece. It is part of the credibility to stick to the signals you have sent," Juncker told German radio Deutschlandfunk.
"I expect that a haircut will not be part of the instruments that will be used with priority (in Cyprus). I want to exclude that possibility from my side," Juncker added.
Cyprus on Thursday dismissed as unfounded any suggestion that the International Monetary Fund is seeking a writedown of the island's debt before it agrees to participate in a multi-billion euro bailout.

Read More..