reinharden - Did they link that from the public website? Are you a centurion holder?

designcurve - That’s a good idea. DVD’s are old now, they’ll be replaced within 5 years…. Not a life cycle I want to be in. But the short would be a long and continuous one — might not be worth the time / risk if it did IPO’d.

Weakness in the greenback boosts gold’s appeal as an alternative investment, and makes the precious metal, which is priced in dollars, cheaper for holders of other currencies. At 9.32 am, spot gold was trading at 804.50 usd an ounce, against 811.50 usd in late New York trade yesterday. Demand for the metal from exchange-traded funds (ETFs) remains at record levels, he added, further underpinning prices. ETFs trade commodity futures, backing up stock bought on paper with actual physical supply.

Among other precious metals, platinum dipped to 1,461 usd from yesterday’s 1,466 usd, while its sister metal palladium fell to 343 usd from 347 usd.
Platinum is continuing to take support from tight fundamentals after a string of production outages in South Africa, the source of around three-quarters of the world’s platinum supply. Supply of the white metal is expected to fall 2 pct to 6.66 mln ounces in 2007 on a combination of industrial action, safety-related stoppages and other problems at South African mines, according to a report by specialist materials group Johnson Matthey.

Copper falls as demand worries linger after Fed rate
Copper prices were lower as demand worries lingered after the US Federal Reserve yesterday moved to cut rates by only 25 basis points and failed to reassure the market about further rate cuts ahead. Although Chinese copper demand has fallen for most of this quarter as industry players opted to stay out of the market and draw down on stocks, data out yesterday showed a reversal of this trend.

Chinese imports of unwrought copper and semi-finished copper products rose by a monthly 9.5 pct in November, after falling 5.6 pct in October. In addition, scrap imports were at their second highest on record. Elsewhere, lead rose to 2,555 usd a tonne against 2,520 usd, recovering from yesterday’s fall to near 6 month lows.

Dollar gives up gains made in wake of Fed rate cut
The dollar lost the gains it had temporarily made after the Federal Reserve last night cut interest rates by only 25 basis points, disappointing minority expectations for a more aggressive cut. The Fed acknowledged in its statement that both growth and inflation risks had increased, suggesting it does not yet know which side the balance is going to tip. “The Fed is expressing uncertainty at a time when financial markets require leadership,” said Hans Redeker at BNP Paribas. He said the price pressures in the economy mean the Fed is unable to operate ahead of the curve, so “the Fed will have to sacrifice more economic growth to bring inflation down.” Although the moderate rate decision has cleared the risk of a sharp dollar sell-off into the new year, the Fed’s policy will continue to be highly data and market-dependent, analysts said.

“We believe slower growth, tight credit conditions and a comforting core inflation reading will encourage the Fed to implement further insurance easing to protect against the downside risks to growth, and we look for two 25-point reductions in Q1 of 2008,” said Daragh Maher at Calyon.

Meanwhile, the euro was mildly stronger against the yen and pound, with investors looking to data for more direction. In the UK, the pound will be similarly data-driven today, with the focus firmly on the labour market data. Euro 1.4682 usd up from 1.4658. Sterling 2.0435 usd up from 2.0369 usd .

The dollar was trading at 111.18 yen at 4:50 p.m. (0750 GMT) Wednesday, up from 110.82 yen late Tuesday in New York.

Oil trades near 90 usd ahead of weekly snapshot of US fuel inventories
Prices jumped back above 90 usd yesterday after ice storms in the US Midwest paralyzed distribution hubs, heightening supply fears going into the peak winter demand period. While pipelines are now coming back online, expectations for another drop in US crude stockpiles are keeping prices pinned near the key psychological level.

At 9.29 am, New York’s WTI (West Texas Intermediate) crude for January delivery was down 2 cents at 90.00 usd per barrel, having earlier hit an intraday high of 90.20 usd before running into selling pressure. Meanwhile, London’s Brent crude for January delivery was up 6 cents at 88.79 usd per barrel.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial News predicted US crude stockpiles will drop by 1 mln barrels in this week’s EIA report, while inventories of gasoline and distillates are seen as rising by 1 mln barrels and 1.5 mln barrels respectively. The weekly report normally has a significant impact on crude oil price direction.

The Nikkei closed 0.7 percent lower. The Nikkei was down as much as 2 percent at one point of the session. South Korea’s KOSPI wiped out early losses to end slightly higher, led by telecom stocks and retailers, and as market rumors mounted that the Labor Ministry had bought a large amount in shares during the day. A Labor Ministry official confirmed the ministry injected some funds to buy stocks, but declined to disclose the amount.

Australian shares finished 1 percent lower, led down by U.S.-exposed companies; Hong Kong stocks fell 2.4 percent, led by a slide in property plays, on disappointment with the Fed’s 0.5 percent cut; China’s Shanghai Composite Index was down 1.5 percent in response to a tumble in Hong Kong and global markets, and as banks and real estate shares continued falling because of concern about monetary tightening.

European Stocks Feel Fed Aftershock
uropean markets opened lower Wednesday, tracking declines in US and Asian markets after the Federal Reserve disappointed investors on Tuesday with only a quarter-point interest-rate cut. The Fed’s less-than-aggressive statement also disappointed the market, failing to say that the central bank would take all needed action to prevent further deterioration in the credit market or that the balance of risk had shifted to a slowing economy.

That was enough to push major European indexes down about 1% in early trading.

(The following is from WSJ; please cross check with other sources to confirm.)

Japan*

15932.26
-112.46
-0.7%

Hong Kong*

28521.06
-705.78
-2.41%

DJ Shanghai*

517.13
-4.87
-0.93%

S.Korea*

1927.45
2.38
0.12%

India*

20375.87
84.98
0.42%

Baltic Dry Index (BDI) -63 9929

BDI Charts & Spot Rates - http://www.dryships.com/index.cfm?get=report

* at close
Sources: Dow Jones, Reuters

http://www.clearplay.com/

See http://americanexpress.com/centurion/

reinharden

Why doesn’t America admit to it? Everyone knows about the black card, give it up!