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By Carolyn T. Geer
How much should millennials invest in stocks? A lot less than you might think, according to three prominent investment experts.
Conventional wisdom says the youngest investors can assume the most equity risk in pursuit of higher returns because they are furthest from retirement and have the most time to recover any losses from bear markets.
Although mathematically true, "that doesn't necessarily mean it's OK to risk losing all your money," says Michael Kitces, a financial adviser and co-founder of the XY Planning Network, which serves Generation X and Y investors.
Rules of thumb like "100 minus your age" (meaning 25-year-olds would put 75% of their assets in stocks) and target-date funds (which are the default option in many 401(k) plans and which start out stock-heavy and shift toward conservative asset allocations closer to retirement) can leave some newbie investors dangerously overexposed to equities, he and others warn.
"I really worry that we may be over-risking young folks," he says, by giving them higher doses of stocks than many of them can tolerate. The fear is that when they encounter their first bear market, they'll be spooked and swear off stocks forever.
When deciding how much to invest in stocks, Mr. Kitces says, your first consideration should be how comfortable you are with risk to begin with. This is what's known as your "risk tolerance."
The problem: Investors—particularly young ones—are notoriously bad at predicting how much money they are willing to lose. Compounding the problem, young investors, due to their lack of experience in the markets and overall financial illiteracy, tend to misjudge how much risk they are actually taking with their portfolios, says Mr. Kitces.
"Most of the time they underestimate how much risk they are taking and overestimate how much risk they're comfortable with," he says.
The best measure of your risk tolerance—and the true test of what kind of investor you are—is how you actually behave in a bear market, says William Bernstein, an investment manager at Efficient Frontier Advisors in Eastford, Conn., and the author of several books on investing.
That's why Mr. Bernstein recommends that young investors start with a portfolio that's roughly 50% stocks (split evenly between foreign and domestic) and 50% U.S. bonds until they experience their first bear market. "Then you see how you respond and you learn what your actual risk tolerance is," he says. If you panic and retreat to cash, you may want to dial down your stockholdings to 30% or 40%, he says. Conversely, if you continue systematically investing, you may want to go 60% or 70% stocks.
The more investing experience and assets you accumulate, he says, the more risk tolerant you are likely to become. "I think there is a wealth effect" that makes you more willing and able to handle risk, he says.
But there is no need to swing for the fences, he says. Most 25-year-olds would do just fine if they invested at least 15% of their salary every year until retirement in a portfolio composed of just three index funds—a U.S. total stock-market index fund, an international total stock-market index fund and a U.S. total bond-market index fund—held in equal proportions and rebalanced annually, he says. (He lays out why in his newest booklet, "If You Can: How Millennials Can Get Rich Slowly," which can be downloaded free for Kindle from Amazon.com through Tuesday.)
As simple as it sounds, though, it's not easy for young adults to save that much consistently, especially when they also need to pay down debt and establish a separate cash account for emergencies should take priority, he says.
Indeed, for many young people, "their 401(k) becomes their emergency fund by default," says Rob Arnott, chairman of investment firm Research Affiliates. "It shouldn't, but it does." Young adults are more vulnerable to the vagaries of the job market, more likely to get laid off when markets swoon, and more apt to cash out their 401(k)s when switching jobs, he says.
He suggests young people start investing their 401(k)s in a conservative mix of one-third stocks, one-third bonds and one-third inflation hedges, such as Treasury inflation-protected securities. Only after accumulating perhaps six months' income in this "starter portfolio" should they start raising their allocation to stocks, he says.
By Jeffrey T. Lewis
SÃO PAULO—The Brazilian real strengthened against the dollar and stocks jumped, amid expectations that recently re-elected President Dilma Rousseff was about to name a more market-friendly economic team.
Those expectations were dashed at the end of the day, when the presidential palace said there would be no announcement Friday. It declined to say when the announcement would be made.
Late Friday in New York, the real was at 2.5152 to the dollar, compared with 2.5732 to the dollar late Wednesday. Thursday was a holiday in most of Brazil.
The Bovespa stock index gained 5%, with state-controlled oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA among the top performers, climbing 12%.
Ms. Rousseff and outgoing Finance Minister Guido Mantega have lost favor with investors after four years of sluggish economic growth.
Brazilian shares and the real have been on a roller-coaster ride since the start of the election season in August, strengthening before the final round of voting on Oct. 26 on any news suggesting that Ms. Rousseff might lose and after she won amid rumors about who would succeed Mr. Mantega.
An official close to the president indicated to The Wall Street Journal that three names are under consideration to succeed Mr. Mantega: former treasury chief Joaquim Levy; Nelson Barbosa, a former No. 2 in the ministry; and central-bank President Alexandre Tombini.
Local news media reported Friday that Mr. Levy would get the nod.
Market participants say any of those candidates would be better than Mr. Mantega, according to Luiz Carlos Baldan, a director at the Fourtrade currency brokerage in São Paulo.
Shares of state-controlled companies were among the biggest gainers. In addition to Petrobras's big jump, Banco do Brasil SA climbed 8.3%. Power company Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras SA, or Eletrobras, gained 7%.
Write to Jeffrey T. Lewis at email@example.com
WASHINGTON—Regulators are expanding their examination of bank activities in commodities markets and could unveil new restrictions early next year to curtail firms' trading and ownership of physical oil, metals and other raw materials, a senior Federal Reserve official told lawmakers.
Fed governor Daniel Tarullo, testifying before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations on Friday, said certain activities by banks involved in physical commodities markets could be exploiting a gap in regulatory oversight, potentially opening a door to manipulative trading. He suggested that some bank activity in commodities markets may occur in areas that neither the Commodity Futures Trading Commission nor Securities and Exchange Commission are able to regulate.
Mr. Tarullo also indicated that some bank activities, like information sharing between employees involved in energy infrastructure investments and a firm's trading operations, may violate current rules.
The Fed is considering measures that could reduce the amount of allowable assets or revenue that banks derive from physical commodity markets, increase capital costs for such activities and prohibit involvement in markets that pose risks to financial stability, Mr. Tarullo testified.
–Scott Patterson and Christian Berthelsen
HSBC Holdings
French prosecutors said they are investigating the Swiss unit of HSBC Holdings PLC for allegedly laundering the proceeds of tax fraud, in the latest international probe into the aiding of offshore-tax evasion by Swiss banks.
Magistrates are also looking into whether the bank sought to recruit customers in France, possibly breaching laws authorizing only French-registered lenders to sign up customers in the country, an official at the office of the French national financial prosecutor said. The bank said it would cooperate "to the fullest extent possible." A spokeswoman for the bank declined to comment further.
The disclosure Friday followed formal charges filed earlier in the week by a Belgian judge, alleging that HSBC's Swiss bank helped Belgians evade taxes by harboring funds in secret accounts.
–Inti Landauro and John Letzing
Blackstone Group
TOKYO—U.S. investment firm Blackstone Group LP said it had reached an agreement to buy General Electric Co.'s residential real-estate business in Japan for more than ¥190 billion ($1.6 billion), another sign of foreign investors' confidence in the nation's property market.
A big decline in the yen over the past two years has made Japan more attractive to international investors, who are moving beyond office and retail spaces in central Tokyo as prices keep rising.
Blackstone said Friday that it would buy a portfolio of 200 residential properties, with more than 10,000 rental units, primarily in the major cities of Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya and Fukuoka.
–Kosaku Narioka
HANOI—The State Bank of Vietnam issued regulations tightening bank lending to stock investors, as it aims to reduce the level of nonperforming loans in the banking system.
According to the new regulations, which take effect in February, only banks whose bad debts are 3% or less of outstanding loans will be eligible to lend to stock investors, according to a document released by the central bank on Friday.
Also, total loans made to stock investors can't be higher than 5% of a bank's chartered capital. The central bank's previous regulations stipulated that loans for securities investment couldn't exceed 20% of a bank's chartered capital.
The Vietnamese banking system is struggling with high levels of bad debt.
–Vu Trong Khanh
By Jon Hilsenrath, Brian Blackstone, Lingling Wei
The People's Bank of China headquarters in Beijing.
Two major central banks moved Friday to pump up flagging global growth, sending stock markets soaring but raising new questions about the limitations of a seven-year effort to use monetary policy to address economic problems.
The People's Bank of China announced a surprise reduction in benchmark lending and deposit rates, the first cuts since 2012, after other measures to boost faltering growth fell short. Hours later, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said the bank might take new measures to boost inflation, now near zero, his strongest signal yet that the ECB is getting closer to buying a broader swath of eurozone bonds.
The moves came less than two weeks after the Bank of Japan said it would ramp up its own securities-purchase program known as quantitative easing, or QE, as the Japanese economy fell into recession.
The twin steps Friday, half a world apart, sent global stock prices sharply higher, bolstered the U.S. dollar and boosted oil prices.
The Shanghai Composite Index rose 1.4%, while Germany's DAX index jumped 2.6%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 0.51%, and at 17810.06 is now closing in on the 18000 threshold that has never been surpassed. The Nikkei rose 0.3%.
Amid the flurry of central bank activity, the dollar was the winner among global currencies, rising 0.27% against a broad index of other currencies to put it up 9% for the year.
Though the moves toward easier money in Europe and Asia are good for investors, they come with multiple risks. They could perpetuate or spark asset bubbles, or stoke too much inflation if taken too far. Also, they don't address structural problems that policy makers in each economy are struggling to fix.
The steps, particularly in Europe, represent a subtle endorsement of the Federal Reserve's easy-money approach to postcrisis economics, but come as the U.S. central bank shifts its own low-interest-rate policies. The Fed last month ended a six-year experiment with bond purchases, and it has begun talking about when to start raising short-term interest rates as the U.S. economy improves, though those discussions are early and rate increases are likely months away, at the earliest.
Global economic weakness creates a dilemma for the U.S. If the Fed pulls away from easy money as other central banks ramp up money-pumping policies, it could drive up the value of the U.S. dollar, straining U.S. exports. It also could put downward pressure on U.S. inflation and on commodities prices, which are typically denominated in dollars.
Eswar Prasad, a Cornell University professor and former International Monetary Fund economist, said those developments would make it harder for the Fed to move ahead on rate increases.
The latest actions suggest that policy makers in the major economies are growing more desperate as they confront weakening domestic prospects, particularly when soft global demand is weighing down prices and keeping inflation at levels many central banks consider alarmingly low.
"We cannot be complacent," said Mr. Draghi in Frankfurt. "We have to be very watchful that low inflation does not start percolating through the economy in ways that further worsen the economic situation and inflation outlook."
Annual inflation was running at 0.4% in the eurozone last month, far below the ECB's 2% target, a sign of feeble underlying economic growth.
Mr. Draghi's comments raised expectations the ECB might soon buy large amounts of corporate debt or government bonds of eurozone members. Bond buying is intended to hold down long-term interest rates and drive investors into riskier assets to stimulate borrowing, investment and spending. The practice is a challenge in Europe, where the central bank faces restrictions on its ability to purchase individual country debt.
Europe and Japan have similar problems: Flat-to-declining economic output that is pulling inflation down below 2% targets. China also is seeing a downward pull on consumer prices and outright deflation in its industrial sector, signs of an economy losing momentum, albeit from a much faster growth pace.
The Fed pursued low-rate, QE experimentation for half a decade. It pushed U.S. short-term rates to near zero in December 2008 and promised to keep them there for long periods. Convinced that wasn't enough, it then launched several rounds of bond purchases that helped push its portfolio of securities, loans and other assets from less than $900 billion to more than $4 trillion.
The policies didn't cause the hyperinflation or obvious asset bubbles that some lawmakers and critics feared. The fact that the U.S. economy is now doing better than Europe's or Japan's suggests the policies helped boost growth, although the degree of support is a matter of great disagreement among economists.
Some observers have doubts about whether easy-money policies will work now in the places adopting them.
"Central banks have done about as much as they can," said Liaquat Ahamed, author of "Lords of Finance," which documented the mistakes global central bankers made before and during the Great Depression.
Japan, he said, is burdened by a highly inefficient domestic economy, and Europe by a fragmented and fragile banking system. Pumping cheap credit into these economies won't directly fix those problems, he said. "They may be just copying the U.S. when they have different problems," he said. "The world has relied too much on central banks."
In the U.S., Fed officials have been frustrated that they were being relied on to spur growth while the Obama administration and Congress feuded over fiscal policies that slowed growth in the short-run without addressing projected long-run budget deficits.
China is a different story. In developed economies, where growth is slower, short-term interest rates have already been pushed to near zero and central banks have employed unorthodox measures to boost growth. Rates in China are higher, leaving the central bank more room to reduce them if it wants to spur borrowing and spending.
China this year could miss its annual growth target of 7.5% for the first time since the 1998 Asian financial crisis. Economic output grew by 7.3% in the third quarter, its slowest pace in more than five years.
Until now, the People's Bank of China, under longtime governor Zhou Xiaochuan, has resisted calls from within the government, the market and the corporate sector to cut interest rates. Officials feared that broadly opening the credit spigot would worsen China's debt problems and put the economy at greater risk, according to officials at the central bank.
Instead, it tried to channel credit to sectors deemed important for China's growth, including small and rural businesses and government-financed low-income housing projects.
On Friday, the central bank said it cut its benchmark one-year loan rate by 0.4 percentage point to 5.6%, larger than typical reductions of 0.25 percentage point. It also cut its benchmark one-year deposit rate by 0.25 percentage point to 2.75%.
The PBOC's chief economist, Ma Jun, said Friday the risk of deflation, or falling prices, is putting "upward pressure" on inflation-adjusted, or "real," interest rates, which contributed to the decision to cut benchmark rates now.
By Simon Clark
Carlyle Group co-founder and CEO David Rubenstein
Pension fund managers from the Netherlands to Canada, searching for new ways to invest, lambasted private-equity executives at a conference in Paris this week for charging excessive fees.
Ruulke Bagijn, chief investment officer for private markets at Dutch pension manager PGGM, said a Dutch pension fund for nurses and social workers that she invests for, paid more than €400 million ($501.6 million) to private-equity firms in 2013. The amount accounted for half the fees paid by the PFZW pension fund, even though private-equity firms managed just 6% of its assets last year, she said.
"That is something we have to think about," Ms. Bagijn said.
The world's largest investors, including pension funds and sovereign-wealth funds, are seeking new ways to invest in private equity to avoid the supersize fees. Some investors are buying companies and assets directly. Others are making more of their own decisions about which funds to invest in, rather than giving money to fund-of-fund managers. Big investors are also demanding to invest alongside private-equity funds to avoid paying fees.
Jane Rowe, the head of private equity at Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, which manages 141 billion Canadian dollars ($124.4 billion) is buying more companies directly rather than just through private-equity funds. The plan invests with private-equity firms including Silver Lake Partners L.P. and Permira L.P., according to its annual report. Ms. Rowe told executives gathered in a hotel near Place Vendome in central Paris that she is motivated to make money to improve the retirement security of Canadian teachers rather than simply for herself and her partners.
"You're not doing it to make the senior managing partner of a private-equity fund $200 million more this year," she said, as she sat alongside Ms. Ruulke of the Netherlands and Derek Murphy of PSP Investments, which manages pensions for Canadian soldiers. "You're making it for the teachers of Ontario. You know, Derek's making it for the armed forces of Canada. Ruulke's doing it for the social fabric of the Netherlands. These are very nice missions to have in life."
The comments mark a strong public show of discontent and suggest efforts to tackle high fees paid to private equity are building.
Ms. Rowe was in part responding to private-equity executives such as Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein, who warned that investors who do more acquisitions themselves rather than through private-equity funds will have to pay big salaries to hire and retain talented deal makers.
"Some public pension funds will just not pay, in the United States particularly, very high salaries and will not be able to hold on to people very long and get the most talented people," Mr. Rubenstein said at the conference. "I don't think there are that many people who will pay their employees at these sovereign-wealth funds and other pension funds the kind of compensation necessary to hold on to these people and get them."
As an illustration of the challenge public institutions face in justifying high salaries, Harvard University finance Prof. Josh Lerner showed a photograph of a student protest against inequality. A Harvard student holds up a placard with the numbers "180-1," which is the ratio between the highest and lowest paid staff at the university, he said. The "1" is a janitor and the "180" is an executive at Harvard Management Co., which invests the university's endowment, Professor Lerner said.
"This is saying that there's too much pay inequality at Harvard," he said. "Even at Harvard, they don't really understand the principle of paying for performance."
Mr. Rubenstein had a further warning for investors seeking to compete for deals with private-equity firms. "If you live by the sword you die by the sword," he said. If investors buy companies themselves rather than hire private-equity firms to do so, "you can't blame somebody else if something goes wrong."
That is a risk Peter Pereira Gray at the U.K.'s Wellcome Trust is increasingly prepared to take. The trust bought a student housing company and a large U.K. farm this year. "We need to do more ourselves," he said. "That includes private direct assets."
Write to Simon Clark at email@example.com
By David Wighton
A logo outside Aviva PLC's London headquarters.
Aviva PLC announced plans for a £5.6 billion ($8.8 billion) takeover of Friends Life Group in an all-share deal that it said would create the largest insurance, savings and asset-management company in the U.K.
Aviva said the deal, which the Friends Life board has indicated it will recommend to its shareholders subject to agreement on other terms, would significantly increase its cash flow and accelerate the growth of its dividend.
Under the terms of the offer, Friends Life shareholders would get 0.74 of an Aviva share for each Friends share. Based on the closing prices on Friday, the terms represent an indicative premium of 15% to the Friends' price or a 28% premium to its three month average.
Aviva said the premium took into account the impact of the Value Share, an incentive deal agreed with senior Friends Life executives, including founder Clive Cowdery, which pays out in the event that the company is sold. This was worth £133 million at the end of last year and will be considerably higher under the terms of the deal, according to someone close to the deal.
The companies weren't planning to announce the deal for some weeks and were forced to move by a leak. People close to the companies cautioned that due diligence still had to completed.
Shares of Friends Life, which was founded by Mr. Cowdery to buy up U.K. life insurance funds, have been hit by the planned reforms to pension savings in the U.K. announced by the government in March. But they have partly recovered in recent weeks, boosted by a share buyback. In contrast, Aviva's shares have risen sharply since the arrival of new chief executive, Mark Wilson, in January last year. Mr. Wilson, who was former chief executive of Hong Kong-based life insurance company AIA Group, replaced Andrew Moss, who left following shareholder criticism of Aviva's performance and executive pay.
Mr. Wilson has pushed through a restructuring, which has included the sale of many of Aviva's operations in countries where it has a small presence.
The companies didn't comment on the future role of Friends Life's top management in a combined group including its chief executive, Andy Briggs, and chief financial officer, Tim Tookey. Earlier this year, Mr. Cowdery stepped down from the board of the company, which was originally called Resolution.
Aviva, which provides general insurance, life insurance and pensions, said the combined group would be "better positioned to take advantage of the evolving U.K. life insurance market with greater capacity to invest and innovate".
Aviva added: "Specifically the transaction would lead to a substantial increase in Aviva's protection value of new business, more than double Aviva's corporate pension assets under administration and create new opportunities by serving Friends Life's £2 billion of annual pension vestings."
The company said the deal would also materially increase Aviva Investors' total assets under management, increasing the importance of fund management to the group. Over time, Aviva would take over the management of Friends Life's assets, most of which is currently outsourced, it said.
"The board of Aviva believes that the combination with Friends Life would deliver significantly higher cash flows enhanced by substantial synergies, principally through operating efficiencies in the combined back books and the removal of overlapping overheads." Aviva said it also would strengthen its balance sheet and reduce leverage.
Because the statement was rushed out, the companies weren't in a position to estimate the cost savings, according to a person close to the deal.
Under the terms of the deal, Friends Life shareholders would own about 26% of the enlarged group which at the closing prices on Friday would be valued at more than £21 billion.
Aviva is being advised by Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Cazenove and Robey Warshaw while Friends Life is advised by Goldman Sachs, Barclays and RBC Capital Markets.
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By Jason Zweig
It's understandable that U.S. investors in October pulled more than $2 billion out of international-stock mutual funds and exchange-traded funds, after adding an average of $16 billion a month in the previous year, according to Morningstar. That was the first monthly outflow in the past year, although preliminary data from research firms ETF.com and EPFR Global show money flowing back in so far in November.
But it isn't time to pull the plug on international diversification. "There's definitely some performance-chasing going on, some currency-chasing going on," says William Stromberg, head of equity at T. Rowe Price Associates in Baltimore. "Governments in Europe and Japan are determined to drive their currencies down against the dollar, and that scares a lot of people."
The MSCI All-Country World Index, not counting the U.S., is down 4% so far this year in dollar terms, while the S&P 500 is up 13.1%, including dividends, through Thursday. That gap is nearly as wide in percentage terms over the five years through Oct. 31.
Still, there are plenty of reasons for U.S. investors to hold foreign stocks. The People's Bank of China and European Central Bank President Mario Draghi both made potentially bullish moves this week for investors in those markets.
More broadly, foreign stocks can be an effective hedge against a rise in U.S. interest rates.
Keith Parker, a strategist at Barclays in New York, recently looked back at returns since 1954 and found that U.S. stocks tend to go nowhere for at least six months after the Federal Reserve raises interest rates. But international stocks historically have outperformed the U.S. market by almost four percentage points in the sixth months after U.S. rate hikes, Mr. Parker found, probably because higher interest rates make future U.S. earnings less valuable to investors in the present.
With the Fed widely expected to begin raising rates sometime in 2015, having some of your stock money overseas could help cushion the blow.
From now on, says Mr. Parker, "It's going to be more difficult for the U.S. to outperform [other markets], given higher valuations and the Fed shifting course," as well as greater potential for a longer run of economic recovery overseas.
After years of outperformance, U.S. stocks have become much more expensive than those in the rest of the world.
Joachim Klement, chief investment officer at Wellershoff & Partners, a Zurich-based financial research and consulting firm, periodically calculates the value of stock markets based on the long-term average of their price relative to their earnings, adjusted for inflation. That measure, often called the "cyclically adjusted price/earnings ratio," or CAPE, was devised by Yale University economist Robert Shiller.
As of Oct. 31, according to Mr. Klement, the U.S. traded at 24.7 times earnings by the Shiller measure, making it the second-most highly valued stock market in the world, after only Denmark at 26.9. Japan is at 20.9 times earnings; the U.K., Italy, Brazil, Spain, Austria, Hungary, Russia and Greece are all trading at less than half the valuation level of the U.S.
The rest of the world has been so disappointing for so long that it might not take much to generate a jump in returns. "If you get one whiff of good economic news in Europe, earnings will go up and stock prices could surprise on the upside," says Mr. Stromberg of T. Rowe Price, "because expectations are so low."
None of this means you should plunge into international stocks to the same extreme degree so many investors were doing until recently. But with such a long Ice Age of underperformance by non-U.S. markets, relatively cheap valuations overseas and the likelihood of rising rates in the U.S., it makes more sense than ever to spread some of your bets around the world.
Consider an exchange-traded fund like Schwab International Equity, iShares Core MSCI Total International Stock or Vanguard Total International Stock, none of which charges more than 0.18% in annual expenses, or $18 on a $10,000 investment. Or you can opt for a low-cost mutual fund that also spreads its bets widely outside the U.S., such as Fidelity Diversified International, T. Rowe Price International Stock or Vanguard International Growth, all with annual expenses of 0.92% or less.
John C. Bogle, founder of the Vanguard Group, says he doesn't own any international stocks or stock funds, since he argues that Americans should fund their future spending with assets denominated in dollars. U.S. investors who do want foreign exposure should limit it to "no more than 20%" of their stock portfolio, he says.
On the other hand, when foreign markets get so cheap that "nobody wants them," says Mr. Bogle, "then maybe we should take them a little more seriously."
— Write to Jason Zweig at email@example.com, and follow him on Twitter at @jasonzweigwsj.
By Maureen Farrell
Investors in Ann seem to be betting that the private-equity firm Golden Gate Capital can fix Ann Taylor's parent.
Ann Inc. reported third-quarter earnings Friday and in the words of Stifel analyst Richard Jaffe "the wheels came off the wagon." The company missed projections, said its inventory was way up at Ann Taylor because of product-shipment delays, and admitted its mix of merchandise wasn't resonating with consumers.
Yet Ann's stock barely budged, trading down less than 1% Friday. Golden Gate, a firm known for taking retailers private, has clearly put a floor on the stock since it revealed a stake of nearly 10% stake in March.
Mr. Jaffe wrote in a report Friday morning that Golden Gate premium makes the company's stock hard to value. "We believe the stock is no longer trading on fundamentals."
It's unclear what Golden Gate's plans for the retailer are. The fund appeared to up the ante last month when it signed a nondisclosure agreement with Ann, which gave it the opportunity to peer deeper into the company's financials and precluded the fund from selling its stake.
At the time, the retailer said "given Golden Gate's expertise in specialty retail and the positive interactions between the companies to date, it would be beneficial to continue discussions on a more detailed basis."
Golden Gate wouldn't comment on its plans Friday but investors and analysts are betting that the PE firm would either take Ann Taylor private or might simply take a more active role in its retail operations. In addition to Golden Gate, activist investor Engine Capital LP called in August for Ann to consider a sale.
Mr. Jaffe said a take-private deal could be difficult now with Ann's stock trading at its current price of $38.23. It would be difficult for a PE firm to both give Ann Inc. enough of a take out premium and enough wiggle room on its interest payments on any debt it takes on based on the company's current free cash flow, which is projected to come in at $86 million in 2014, according to FactSet estimates.
Still Golden Gate has proven its retail prowess on several occasions and any operational assistance it provides to Ann Taylor could be helpful, analysts say. Golden Gate won big in its investment in Zale Corp. which was acquired by Signet Jewelers Ltd. in May for $1.46 billion. In May, it purchased the Red Lobster chain from Darden Restaurants Inc. despite opposition from activists investors.
Yet not all its takeover attempts have been successful. In an unusual deal, it tried to provide backing for Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc.'s $2.3 billion hostile bid for rival Men's Wearhouse Inc. Instead, the target, Men's Wearhouse, ultimately prevailed and bought Jos. A. Bank.
Without a deal? Analysts at Stifel and Janney pointed to the external headwinds facing Ann's, including weak mall traffic and a highly promotional retail environment, as well as some poor choices in merchandise that just hasn't resonated with consumers.
Still analysts at Janney also think that the hope of a buyout will keep investors in the stock at these levels at least.
By Ryan Tracy
Federal Reserve Bank of New York President William Dudley came under withering criticism.
WASHINGTON—The head of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York defended the regulator's oversight of large financial firms amid tough questioning from Senate Democrats, who accused the Fed of kowtowing to the biggest banks.
William Dudley, the New York Fed's president appearing at a Senate hearing, denied his institution has serious cultural problems but said it could always improve on how it oversees big Wall Street banks.
"The Federal Reserve has made significant changes to the substance and process of supervision," Mr. Dudley told the Senate Banking Committee. "As a result, the financial system is unquestionably much stronger and more stable now than it was five years ago."
The hearing came amid criticism of the Fed's oversight in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. In September, a former New York Fed examiner said her desire to stand up to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. was suppressed by supervisors. In October, the Fed's inspector general said the New York Fed missed an opportunity to ferret out risk-taking in J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.'s chief investment office before it lost about $6 billion in the "London whale" trading debacle.
"We're not seeing anything close to a rigorous accountability for conflicts of interest and failures of oversight," said Sen. Jeff Merkley (D., Ore.).
Mr. Dudley pushed back against that assessment, saying the New York Fed hadn't failed in its oversight duties. He also addressed a series of recordings made by the former Fed employee that painted the Fed as a lax regulator, saying he disagreed.
"I don't accept the characterization that those tapes show the Federal Reserve is not working correctly," Mr. Dudley said. "We didn't repress [the issues in the tapes]. We didn't table them. We investigated those issues."
Mr. Dudley's comments did little to appease Senate Democrats, who at times expressed incredulity at his responses. In particular, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) lashed out at Mr. Dudley over lax oversight, at one point suggesting Mr. Dudley should be replaced if the New York Fed doesn't improve.
"Either you need to fix it, Mr. Dudley, or we need to get someone who will," she said.
No Republican senators attended the hearing.
Sen. Warren, along with Sen. Sherrod Brown (D., Ohio), and others questioned the New York Fed's independence, pressing Mr. Dudley to explain why the New York Fed didn't stop certain risky behavior, including the missed opportunity over the "London whale."
An internal Fed recommendation to examine the J.P. Morgan office involved in the trades "was not a recommendation that came up to me to my approval," Mr. Dudley said. He said staffing was overstretched in 2009, when the recommendation was made, and that the bank had enough loss-absorbing capital to weather the episode.
–Victoria McGrane contributed to this article.
Write to Ryan Tracy at firstname.lastname@example.com
Each week, The Wall Street Journal's Crystal Ball feature invites readers to test their prediction skills.
Send your answer to the latest question to email@example.com by midnight EST Sunday, with your full name, city, state and phone number. (While comments to this blog post are welcome, they won't be included as Crystal Ball entries.) The first reader who gets it right is named the following week.
This week's question: Luxury jeweler Tiffany & Co. will report earnings on Tuesday, Nov. 25, before the stock market opens. The company's shares closed on Friday up 11.5% from a month prior. What will its closing share price be on Tuesday?
Last week's winner: Congratulations to Kenneth C. Hill of Hendersonville, Tenn., who came closest to guessing consumer-goods giant Procter & Gamble's closing price of $87.84 this past Monday.
By James Ramage
Australia's currency jumped as investors wagered China's stimulus would boost demand for Australian commodities.
The dollar dropped against currencies tied to large commodity exporters on Friday after China moved to stimulate its economy, spurring hopes for renewed demand in raw materials.
The Australian dollar rose 0.5% to US$0.8665 in late trade, while the New Zealand dollar edged up 0.2% to US$0.7886. The U.S. dollar dropped 0.6% against the Canadian dollar to C$1.1235, a three-week low.
The price moves marked a reversal for the dollar, which has gained against most currencies over the past several months as the U.S. economy has shown improvement in contrast with many of its rivals. Investors have been buying dollars and moving into U.S. stocks and Treasurys in anticipation that the stronger economy would lead the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates, increasing returns for assets denominated in the greenback.
On Friday, the People's Bank of China cut its one-year benchmark lending rate by 0.4 percentage point to 5.6%. The central bank also lowered the guideline deposit rates and gave Chinese banks greater flexibility in setting rates they offer to savers.
The PBOC trimmed rates in response to persistent signs of a slowdown in the world's second-largest economy. Investors moved into the currencies of Australia, New Zealand and Canada in the belief that the rate cuts could lead to a recovery in China and boost its demand for the oil, metals and agricultural commodities these nations provide.
"It drives the idea that we have ongoing stimulus coming from Japan, China and Europe that will stabilize the global growth outlook," said Camilla Sutton, chief currency strategist at Scotiabank. "These currencies are particularly vulnerable to the global growth outlook, as they're exposed to commodities; anything that supports that will support them."
The dollar rocketed against the euro after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi
pledged to garner support to expand asset purchasesin a manner that financial markets hope will include sovereign debt from eurozone members. The euro fell against most currencies, losing 1.2% against the dollar to $1.2393, its lowest level in a week.
The eurozone has been locked in a battle with anemic growth and extremely low inflation, which has weighed on the euro. The ECB has lowered interest rates and started asset purchases, while the Fed has ended its massive bond-buying program, also known as quantitative easing or QE.
Mr. Draghi's comments reiterated his message the ECB is prepared to explore other channels to boost consumer prices, giving investors more impetus to re-establish bets against the common currency, which had started to slip recently.
"It all says the ECB is moving closer to sovereign QE," said Vassili Serebriakov, a currency strategist at BNP Paribas. "With markets a little less short the euro, there's scope to add to euro-funded risk trades," such as betting on a weaker euro against the commodity currencies and higher-yielding currencies like the Mexican peso.
The dollar weakened against the yen Friday after Finance Minister Taro Aso expressed concern over rapid depreciation in the Japanese currency. Japan has been making efforts to increase inflation toward a 2% target, as well as lift growth, with little success. The greenback slid 0.4% to ¥117.78.
Mr. Aso's comments were "the big mover, first touch highlighting that the pace of depreciation in the yen is proving uncomfortable," Ms. Sutton said. "But that alone isn't enough to shift the downward trend."
Write to James Ramage at firstname.lastname@example.com
#5: Hey Millennials, the Market Is Your Friend
As a group, investors age 18 to 35 are wary of putting their money in stocks, according to recent research. In an open letter to fellow millennials, WSJ columnist Morgan Housel offers advice on how to become more comfortable with investing in stocks, along with a warning about what the future could look like if this trend isn't reversed.
By Michael S. Derby
The last month has been a challenging time for St. Louis Fed President James Bullard.
In the view of many market observers, the veteran central banker has sent conflicting messages about the outlook for Federal Reserve interest rate policy, injecting uncertainty into the central bank outlook at a time when markets and other officials were largely on the same page.
Markets were rattled by comments Mr. Bullard made in a Bloomberg interview just ahead of the late October Fed policy meeting. He said the central bank might want to consider extending a bond-buying stimulusthat was almost universally expected to end that month.
"If you actually go look at the [Bloomberg] interview and go look at what I said, one of the things I actually said was I'm not backing off my interest rate, my March interest view," Mr. Bullard said.
The idea that it might be a good idea to press forward for a bit longer with bond-buying was rooted firmly in the ominous market conditions that prevailed ahead of the October Fed meeting, the official said.
"Global markets were saying there was going to be a global recession. And one way for the Fed to react to that would be to delay the end of [bond-buying] and get more information," Mr. Bullard said.
"Maybe global markets would have been right and maybe there would have been a global recession coming, in which case we would want to have plenty of leeway to react to that," he explained. It would have simply been a "low-cost" insurance policy to keep going with what was then $15 billion per month in bond purchases, get to the December Fed meeting, and see where things stood, he said.
But as it turned out, the market problems proved short-lived, recession fears abated quickly, so the factors facing Fed decision making changed, which in turn supported an end of bond-buying in October, as expected, Mr. Bullard said.
"I'm one that wants the committee to be nimble and be able to react to data that's coming in. So maybe it's more natural for me to say we can shade our position one way or another in response to macroeconomic developments" as they happen, Mr. Bullard said.
Related coverage:
Fed Closes Chapter on Easy Money
Fed's Bullard Says He Would Consider Continuing Bond Program After October
Fed's Bullard Upbeat on Economy, Sees No Need for New Stimulus
By Corrie Driebusch
Traders at the New York Stock Exchange this week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 rose to record highs Friday after China's central bank cut interest rates and the European Central Bank's president reiterated that the institution was ready to expand its stimulus program.
Even as the moves underscore the willingness of central banks to fight slowing global growth with easy monetary policy, investors remain wary. U.S. stocks pared their earlier gains as investors digested what these central bank actions mean about the health of the global economy, traders said.
"It's short-term good news, but the really good news is going to take longer to play out," said Tom Kolefas, a portfolio manager with TIAA-CREF, which manages $840 billion. "What we really need is real economic growth (outside the U.S.)."
The Dow rose 91.06 points, or 0.5%, to 17801.06 and the S&P 500 index advanced 10.75 points, or 0.5%, to 2063.50, on Friday. The Nasdaq Composite gained 11.10 points, or 0.2%, to 4712.97.
Early Friday, China's central bank cut lending rates for the first time in more than two years in an attempt to bolster growth, a surprise move that drove currencies of commodity-exporting countries sharply higher in anticipation of more Chinese demand. The rate cut comes amid expectations that the world's No. 2 economy could miss its annual growth target—set this year at about 7.5%—for the first time since the late 1990s.
Separately, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said the central bank was ready to fight dangerously low inflation by expanding its asset-purchase program.
The central bank actions gave a lift to global commodity companies, which have been hurt so far this year by falling oil and metals prices. Materials companies in the S&P 500 were up 1.3%, making the sector the biggest gainer in the index.
Stocks in the industrials and energy sectors also performed strongly. Shares of Caterpillar Inc., a maker of mining and construction equipment that is highly dependent on sales to emerging markets, rose $4.36, or 4.3%, to $106.45.
"If Europe and China grow a little bit faster because they're stimulating their economies, that growth should drive industrial demand for materials," said John Jares, an equity portfolio manager at USAA Investments, which manages about $66 billion in mutual fund assets. "The belief is demand for materials such as iron ore will come back with global growth."
European stocks and bonds also rose Friday. The Stoxx Europe 600 jumped 2.1% and eurozone bonds rallied, with Italy's 10-year yield touching a record low of 2.20%. The euro fell 1.3% to $1.2388. Stocks and government bonds are seen as beneficiaries should the ECB eventually opt for a program of sovereign quantitative easing, while such a policy is likely to weaken the euro.
Still, some market observers said investors should look at these central-bank actions with a dose of skepticism. After all, investors noted, though central banks's moves are viewed as initially positive for stocks, at the end of the day the actions are a result of fundamental problems. There's no guarantee they will work or that easy-money policies will continue.
"I don't think this is a sea change in monetary policy as it relates to China, and I don't think we should necessarily extrapolate that there will be more of this to come," said Darrell Cronk, deputy chief investment officer for Wells Fargo Private Bank, which manages $179 billion.
In recent years, the Federal Reserve's unprecedented monetary stimulus is credited with fueling U.S. stock-market gains. While the Fed has ended its bond-purchase program and is considering an interest-rate increase, other central banks are expanding stimulus as they battle slowing growth. The Bank of Japan last month unexpectedly added to its stimulus measures, prompting a rally in global stocks.
Friday's gains followed a week of stocks drifting upward, with the S&P 500 and the Dow closing at new all-time highs on Tuesday and Thursday. Thursday's move was boosted by a rise in oil prices. On Friday the price of crude-oil futures continued to climb, up 0.9% at $76.51. The rise in oil prices helped lift shares of energy companies, with energy stocks in the S&P 500 adding 1.2%.
The Chinese rate cut helped lift gold futures up 0.6% to $1197.50 an ounce. China is the world's largest gold consumer and the world's leading producer of the precious metal.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note slipped to 2.317% from 2.335% on Thursday.
In corporate news, Ross Stores Inc. shares rose $6.06, or 7.3%, to $89.27. The discount retailer's third-quarter profit rose, with per-share earnings beating its own projections. Same-store sales rose 4%, also topping the company's forecast.
Gap Inc. 's stock fell $1.68, or 4.2%, to $38.46 after the apparel retailer cut its earnings guidance for the year ahead of the crucial holiday selling season, even as its profit topped expectations for the November quarter.
–Tommy Stubbington contributed to this article.
Write to Corrie Driebusch at email@example.com
By Alexandra Wexler
Orange-juice investors and traders are concerned that frost could hit Florida's groves. Here, oranges in Seffner, Fla., in January 2012.
NEW YORK-Orange-juice futures rose 10% this week as bone-chilling weather swept through parts of the U.S., sparking worries that freezing weather could damage Florida's orange crop this winter.
Temperatures in the orange-growing areas of Florida haven't fallen to freezing, but the first polar vortex of the season has traders and investors on edge. Temperatures are expected to warm over the next few days, before falling once more.
For the day, futures rose 1.3%, notching a seventh consecutive sessions of gains.
Florida is the source of 80% of the oranges used in U.S. juice, and the fruit could be damaged if a freeze hits the state, analysts said. Florida's citrus belt experienced a frost in January 2012, but the Florida Department of Citrus says the last time there was a significant freeze was December 1989.
"We're seeing some weather premium coming into the market ahead of frost season," said Fain Shaffer, president of Infinity Trading Corp., an Indianapolis-based brokerage. "Certainly with this cold whether I think a lot of traders are getting positioned in orange juice for any kind of a potential freeze."
Orange juice for delivery in January on the ICE Futures U.S. exchange ended the week at $1.4435 a pound Friday, the highest closing price since Oct. 1.
While the U.S. Department of Agriculture expects Florida will produce 3.3% more oranges during the season that began Oct. 1 than it did last year, a bacterial disease known as citrus greening is causing fruit to fall from trees prematurely, stunting supplies.
"Traders still anticipate another short production year next year due to the greening disease, and fruit sizes for early and mid-oranges is called smaller than normal," said Jack Scoville, vice president at Price Futures Group in Chicago. "Overall production will remain below historical norms for the next few years."
The USDA estimates Florida will produce 108 million boxes of oranges in the current season. That is down 28% from a decade ago, before citrus greening spread to every orange-growing county in the state. Each box weighs 90 pounds.
In addition, retail demand for the beverage continues to slide. U.S. consumers bought 37.05 million gallons of orange juice in the four weeks ended Oct. 25, down 9.4% from a similar period a year earlier, according to Nielsen data published by the Florida Department of Citrus this month. Average prices for the beverage rose 4.8% over the same period to $6.46 a gallon, while total revenue fell 5.1% to $239.24 million, the Nielsen data showed.
Analysts attribute the falling demand to more choices in the beverage aisle-from energy drinks to blueberry juice to flavored water-and higher prices for consumers. Orange-juice makers say they have been paying more for the fruit due to limited supplies after citrus greening ravaged the U.S. crop, and those costs are showing up in the prices they charge to consumers.
In other markets, arabica coffee for delivery in March ended up 1% at $1.9070 a pound and cotton for March delivery settled 1.1% higher at 59.52 cents a pound. March-delivery cocoa eased 0.3% to $2,822 a ton, while raw sugar for delivery in March slid 0.1% to 16.09 cents a pound.
Write to Alexandra Wexler at email@example.com
By Scott Patterson, Christian Berthelsen
Federal Reserve governor Daniel Tarullo said banks could be exploiting a gap in regulatory oversight.
Fed governor Daniel Tarullo, testifying before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations on Friday, said certain activities by banks involved in physical commodities markets could be exploiting a gap in regulatory oversight, potentially opening a door to manipulative trading. He suggested some bank activity in commodities markets may take place in areas that neither the Commodity Futures Trading Commission nor Securities and Exchange Commission are able to regulate.
Mr. Tarullo also indicated some bank activities, like information sharing between employees involved in energy infrastructure investments such as coal mines and power plants and a firm's trading operations, may violate current rules. The Fed is considering measures that could reduce the amount of allowable assets or revenue banks derive from physical commodity markets, increase capital costs for such activities and prohibit involvement in markets that pose risks to financial stability, Mr. Tarullo testified.
The Fed has become concerned that banks' commodities ownership has expanded beyond what regulators originally envisioned and could pose risks to the firms and the broader financial system. One concern is that banks are holding commodities with the intent of moving prices in ways that benefit the firms' trading positions. Mr. Tarullo said the Fed is planning to weigh whether it needs to apply added restrictions "to ensure that the investments are truly passive."
The comments come a day after executives at three of Wall Street's biggest banks were grilled at a Senate hearing examining whether their commodities businesses wield unfair market power or pose risks to the financial system.
Sen. Carl Levin (D., Mich.), chairman of the subcommittee, accused witnesses from Goldman Sachs Group Inc., J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Morgan Stanley of obscuring their investments in metals or natural gas from regulators.
Mr. Levin on Friday said that the Fed needs to get much more aggressive in keeping banks from engaging in potentially manipulative activities in commodities markets. "If there are gaps in the way manipulative activities are taken out or stopped because there's an absence of regulation or failure of regulation, we believe it is essential that those gaps be filled," Mr. Levin told Mr. Tarullo.
Write to Scott Patterson at email@example.com and Christian Berthelsen at email@example.com
By Telis Demos
Jasper Technologies Inc., which makes a software platform to help companies connect to the Internet, is working on an initial public offering for next year, people familiar with the matter said.
The Mountain View, Calif., company is working with banks including Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Deutsche Bank AG on an offering that could raise $150 million and give the business a multibillion-dollar market value, the people said. The deal could come next year, though the timing isn't firm, they added.
A Jasper IPO would be watched closely as a measure of investor enthusiasm for what is known as the "Internet of things," referring to the emerging practice of connecting items as varied as cars, thermostats and pajamas to the Internet.
Other companies that fall into the category include Nest Labs Inc., which makes Internet-connected thermostats for consumers and was acquired by Google Inc. last year for $3.2 billion, as well as Fitbit Inc. and Jawbone, which make web-connected consumer devices that track a user's health.
Jasper's software platform helps companies manage devices or products that are Internet-connected and to sell additional services through them. Customers have included Heineken, which uses a web connection to monitor the freshness of beer in kegs, and Ford Motor Co., which uses it to allow drivers to unlock or start their cars from their mobile phone, according to Jasper's website. Jasper was founded by Jahangir Mohammed, who is its chief executive, in 2004.
The company most recently raised $50 million in a round led by Singapore's Temasek Holdings Ltd. The deal valued Jasper at more than $1 billion and brought its total funding over $200 million, the company has said. Other backers include mutual fund firm AllianceBernstein Holding LP and venture-capital firms Sequoia Capital and Benchmark Capital.
Write to Telis Demos at email@example.com
By Victoria McGrane
If Congress wants the president to pick the New York Fed chief, that's just fine with William Dudley.
"It's the province of the Congress to decide how the Federal Reserve Act is written and how the president of the Federal Reserve Bank in New York and other Federal Reserve presidents are selected," Mr. Dudley told Sen. Jack Reed (D., R.I.) during a heated hearing Friday.
Mr. Reed was asking whether Mr. Dudley objected to legislation recently introduced by the Rhode Island Democrat that would require the president to nominate the New York Fed president, with the consent of the U.S. Senate. The New York Fed president, like the heads of the other 11 Fed Reserve Banks, are elected by members of the reserve bank's board of directors, with final approval by the Fed Board of Governors.
"The perception is that you essentially were hired by the people you're regulating. I think that…permeates throughout the entire organization," Mr. Reed said.
To that, Mr. Dudley objected, pointing out that the 2010 Dodd-Frank law changed the election process. So-called Class A directors–three members that represent the banks in that particular Fed district–are no longer allowed to vote on the president. The decision is left to class B and C directors, which are chosen to represent the public.
"I am definitely not hired and appointed by the people that I regulate," Mr. Dudley said.
Mr. Reed wasn't done. Class B directors, while meant to represent the public, are elected by banks (Class C directors are picked by the Fed board). "And that's not lost on anyone," Mr. Reid said.
5 Things to Know About Big Banks, the Federal Reserve and Policing Wall Street
N.Y. Fed President Dudley: I'm More of a Fire Warden, Not a Cop on the Beat
Dudley Denies 'Serious Problems' in Fed's Regulation
Fed's Dudley Sees Loss of Trust in Banks as Threat to Stability
Fed's Little-Known Inspector General Moves Front and Center
By Erik Holm
Actavis PLC's $66 billion deal to buy Allergan, announced Monday, is the biggest merger in a very busy year for mergers. The agreement appears likely to mark the end of a months-long tug-of-war between Allergan, the maker of Botox, and a team that included activist investor Bill Ackman.
In this week's edition of the MoneyBeat Week podcast, the team looks at the deal from a few different angles. How did it come together? Why didn't Mr. Ackman's team raise its bid? And what does the recent flurry of merger agreements say about the state of the stock market?
On that last question, the concern is this: The last two peaks in deal activity coincided with the last two stock-market tops. Is this year's record merger pace a warning sign for what's ahead for investors in 2015?
For all that and more, grab a set of headphones and listen to MoneyBeat Week. Or catch us on iTunes along with other Journal podcasts in the WSJ What's News section.
By Timothy Puko, Cassie Werber
China's surprise rate cut fanned hopes of increased demand from the world's second-largest crude consumer. Above, a driver fills her car with gasoline in Baoding, China.
NEW YORK—Oil prices held on to small gains Friday, after an early rally was sparked by China's decision to cut interest rates, fanning hopes for increasing demand from the world's second-largest crude consumer.
The move came after oil prices had fallen 30% since June on worries about global production outpacing demand, and a growing expectation that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries will decided to curb production when the cartel meets next week.
A stimulus for the Chinese economy is something that gets macroeconomic investors to buy all kinds of commodities, oil included, said Andrew Lebow, senior vice president for energy derivatives at Jefferies Bache LLC. With lower interest rates, the Chinese could spend freely enough to support 100,000 barrels of oil demand growth in 2015 in a best-case scenario, he said.
"No question I think the market was excited today," Mr. Lebow said. "The Chinese news probably helped to support that rally" that started Thursday in connection with the OPEC meeting.
Light, sweet crude for January delivery settled up 66 cents, or 0.9%, at $76.51 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It is the highest closing price since Nov. 12 and helped Nymex crude have its first week of gains since September.
Brent, the global benchmark, rose $1.03 cents, or 1.3%, to $80.36 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe. That was also Brent's highest closing price since Nov. 12 and produced its biggest weekly percentage gains since the week that ended June 20.
The unexpected move by the People's Bank of China was seen as a response to weaker economic activity in the giant Asian economy, which is second to the U.S. in terms of oil consumption. The central bank cut its benchmark one-year loan rate by 0.4 percentage point and its one-year deposit rate by a quarter of a percentage point. It also gave banks greater flexibility in setting deposit rates.
Friday's gains in the crude market were small but put Brent above $80 a barrel for the first time this week.
Brokerage PVM said Iran is also playing a role in the rally. It said talks over the Persian nation's nuclear-power program with a U.S.-led alliance were unlikely to be concluded by Monday's deadline, allaying fears that Iranian oil could soon flood back into the market.
Iran has been hit with several rounds of sanctions, which have heavily affected the Islamic republic's ability to export oil since 2011. Markets have feared that if a deal were struck, Iran might quickly resume selling oil, adding to international markets that are already heavy with supplies.
The market was due for a bounce, but bigger moves are likely next week, said Kyle Cooper, managing director of research for $15 million hedge fund Cypress Energy in Houston. Many traders are waiting for news from the OPEC meeting. Others had to jump on the Chinese economic news and buy back in to cover short-selling bets that oil prices would fall, said Peter Donovan, energy broker for Liquidity Energy in New York.
"There's some nervousness in the curve here," Mr. Donovan added. "Whatever comes out of that OPEC meeting will supersede expectations that guys put in the market today."
December reformulated gasoline blendstock, or RBOB, gained 2.89 cents, or 1.4%, to $2.0565 a gallon.
December diesel gained 2.45 cents, or 1%, to $2.4045 a gallon.
Write to Tim Puko email@example.com and Cassie Werber at email@example.com


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For those interested in the Image rental market, a segment of Vancouver, keep in mind that the neighborhood is more budget-friendly than some of the surrounding neighborhoods. Image offers conveniences to help warm up a house and cater to the families living in the neighborhood. Look beyond Image for that special apartment. Don't forget areas like Emerald Estates and Quadrant Business Park.
Dining, Drinking and Recreation
Our apartment ratings and reviews provide prospective renters with a well-rounded view of Image. Find places to drink and plenty to do on NE 112th Ave., one of the trendiest "to-do's" in the neighborhood. Get help honing in on your "home sweet home" from our apartment finder tool.
Check out the Yelp page for a more comprehensive list of places to dine, drink, and play in Image.
Local School Statistics
Where you rent will largely determine which schools your children attend. They could be eligible to attend a school in the Evergreen School District (Clark). Some of the schools near the apartments in Image are Clark County Skills Center, Cascade Middle School and Image Elementary School. Remember, school district boundaries are subject to redrawing. Consult with your local schools and school districts near the apartments for rent to confirm the schools your children can attend.
Among Evergreen School District (Clark) middle schools, Cascade Middle School has the lowest student-teacher ratio at 17-to-1.
Vancouver School District has 25 elementary schools, nine middle schools and 12 high schools. Vancouver School District has a lower student-teacher ratio and smaller student-body size than Evergreen School District (Clark). Vancouver School District has more blue ribbons and a higher Great Schools score than the Evergreen School District (Clark).
Living, Demographics and Costs
Image's cost of living is higher than in Emerald Estates, and that is likely due to it having more amenities and it being more desirable overall. The average household spends $56.7K/year in total expenditures, compared to Emerald Estates's $40.1K /year.
The neighborhoods of Image and Emerald Estates are similar in terms of household size. In Image, the average household size is 2.93 inhabitants, and in Emerald Estates it is 2.74 inhabitants.
Is Image the right neighborhood for you? A look at how much your future neighbors are bringing in might shed some light. While those who live in nearby Emerald Estates make an average of $43.9K, Image residents are raking in an average of $73.3K.

subset: commoncrawl


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By: DflyDen
Every time I see trailer for a Nascar racing game it reminds me of the animated show I directed on called Nascar Racers. It's still shown on Disney's Jetix cable station. It a fun show with a lot of CGI racing action, not bad for something done about 7 years ago. There was PC game made of it. maybe someone can find a clip of it for me. Check it out the show if you get a chance. Thanks for viewing.
Views: 7,032 | Posted: 05/25/2011
By: Garrett
Nr2003 Race using the ASA series at Talladega 2006 BrV2. Music by Lenard Skynard. Winner: Garrett Gleason
Views: 598 | Posted: 05/25/2011
By: kyle122390
pics and gamplay
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By: smotonaga
Interview with EA about NASCAR 08.
Views: 1,889 | Posted: 10/14/2010
By: mikvick
Nascar 08 and 09 comparisons
Views: 4,491 | Posted: 08/27/2010
By: mikvick
A really nice fan trailer of the upcoming NASCAR game!!
Views: 1,351 | Posted: 11/25/2009
By: Boardgameplayer
Short movie showing some gameplay from the EA game NASCAR 08.
Views: 4,299 | Posted: 09/04/2009
By: ZombieZapper
During practice at Texas Motor Speedway me and Dale Earnhardt JR collided into the wall and we triggered the biggest AI pileup ive ever experienced in Nascar Racing 2003 Season.
Views: 2,302 | Posted: 01/28/2009
By: Ryersongem
Make history possible with this new fast fueled Wii game!
Views: 808 | Posted: 11/27/2007
Week of
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A regular Otaku must protect Akihabara, Japan from an invading force of vampires in this kooky Japanese title.
3DS, Wii U
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Based on the upcoming film The Penguins of Madagascar, the game follows the adventures of Skipper, Kowalski, Rico and...
Mac, PC
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A puzzle-adventure game set during World War I.
Release Date: 11/26/2014
Warhammer 40,000: Armageddon is a fantasy war game set in the Second War of Armageddon.
Release Date: 12/02/2014
Release Date: 12/04/2014
Wii U
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The intrepid Captain Toad sets off on his own adventure through a wide variety of tricky, enemy-infested stages to...
Release Date: 12/09/2014
Shadow of Revan offers five new levels of story-driven missions, an increased level cap of 60, and new worlds to...
Xbox 360, Xbox One
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Kalimba is a playful yet precise platforming game where players control two totem pole pieces with one controller.
Release Date: 12/18/2014


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In the rugged highlands of Guatemala this December, 10 North Central College students are learning about fair and direct trade, the coffee business—and themselves.
NAPERVILLE, Ill. (Nov. 16, 2010)—North Central College is offering a new option to earn both a bachelor's degree and a master of leadership studies degree in just five years.
Students accepted into this program earn both a bachelor's degree—in any discipline—and the master of leadership studies with the completion of 141 credit hours.
Stephen Maynard Caliendo, professor of political science, can be heard on WDCB-FM 90.9 at 5 a.m. and 6 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, Oct. 18-19, in a two-part interview with assistant news director Gary Zidek '03 about the role of race in the Chicago mayoral election. Listen live at www.wdcb.org.
Thomas D. Cavenagh—Schneller Sisters Professor of Leadership, Ethics & Values; professor of law and conflict resolution; director of leadership, ethics and values; and coordinator of master of leadership studies program—had two recent published works. His chapter titled "Real Estate Transactions, Finance & Foreclosure" was published in the spring 2010 issue of Business Law: Text & Cases by Clarkson, Miller, Jentz & Cross, West Publishing.
Madeline knows she wants to become a lawyer so she decided to seek out the ideal combination for her undergraduate academic work. Along with her major in philosophy, she chose to minor in conflict resolution, which will give her experience in negotiation, mediation and facilitation. "It gives me an opportunity to specialize in an important field as an undergraduate," Madeline says. "As a lawyer, being able to mediate and resolve problems is important."
One of the high points of her time at North Central was traveling to Washington, D.C., to conduct research with a team of peers on how oral arguments are presented before the U.S. Supreme Court. While there she met Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Justice Sonia M. Sotomayor. "It was an amazing experience and I recommend it to anyone," Madeline adds.
The public is invited to hear national, regional, state, local and Canadian officials discuss water usage and conservation during a symposium April 15 at North Central College.
Contact: Ted Slowik, Director of PR and Media Relations, 630-637-5307, firstname.lastname@example.com
Feb. 22, 2010—Students from North Central College's Mock Trial team will sharpen their critical thinking and public speaking skills and knowledge of legal practices by competing in the American Mock Trial Association (AMTA) national tournament March 12-14 in Waukegan. Top finishers from the opening round advance to the National Championship Tournament April 16-18 in Memphis, Tenn.
North Central College prepares students to be informed,
involved, principled and productive citizens and leaders over their lifetime.


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Start learning with our library of video tutorials taught by experts. Get started
Describes how to install and configure Apache, MySQL, and PHP, known as the AMP stack, on a local development computer.
Learn the basics of building complex, data-driven applications with the Facebook PHP SDK and MySQL.
Shows how OOP techniques can streamline database queries, help manage sessions, and simplify user logins.
"lynda.com has made it possible and affordable to retool and get back to work after raising my kids. I can't imagine working without this resource now." —Maureen C.
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Found this on the interweb today. It only reinforces my reasons for being proud to be from The Great State of Ohio.
Found this on the interweb today. It only reinforces my reasons for being proud to be from The Great State of Ohio.
Each year we here at NCG pull together a collection of 10 great gifts, all made in the USA. Every item would be a great addition under your tree this holiday season. They can be purchased by following their links below. Happy Holidays from all of us at here at NCG.
This past week Allen Edmonds, the 91 year old footwear brand out of Port Washington WI launched a small collection of apparel. There are enough pieces to create 8-10 classic looks, which can be seen below, but what is most important about this launch is that 90% of this collection was made right here, in the USA.
Paul Grangaard, the brands President and CEO states 'This is all about great American styling combined with American manufacturing authenticity…Allen Edmonds has proven that world class shoes can be handcrafted in America. Now we're going to help show the world that it also can still be done in amazing clothing and leather goods.' With the manufacturing of this line, Allen Edmonds, along with their production partners were able to create and fill more than 280 skilled labor jobs, all filled by the american worker.
Along with this launch, the company has also re-braneded themselves and have picked up the tag line, 'An American Original'. The logo is clean, simple and classic, which really speaks to the brand and their offering.
This past week at PROJECT, Katin USA released a preview of their Spring/Summer 2014 collection, titled 'Desert Reflections'. The collection is more than the basic board-short and tank top we all know the brand for. Desert Reflections takes a more refined and sophisticated approach to sportswear, yet you don't lose that west coast causal vibe in the pieces. There is the classic graphic tee, but you also some great woven items and some killer accessories.


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"Are we really in charge?" by Women's ministry leaders - almost 2 years ago
"This was our big kick off event for women's ministry at church on Friday, January 11th. We are the new team and we were excited to introduce ourselves and get the ladies excited for 2013. Cust..." view full details
Charlie's Christmas Angels by Chuck Hoogland - almost 2 years ago
"2nd Annual Christ the King Kids' Christmas Musical presented December 29 & 30, 2012, at Christ the King Lutheran Church in Mankato, Minnesota. We had 31 great kids to present "The Legend of the Ch..." view full details
HCF Kidz Church Shine for Custom Ink! by Shine! - almost 2 years ago
"Our Kidz Church at Harvest Christian Fellowship love to ham it up in our new shirts! The theme of the shirts came from our focus in December on the LIGHT that came to the world and the LIGHT that ..." view full details
BASH Student Ministries Winter Retreat by BASH Student Ministries - almost 2 years ago
"We went camping with our Youth Group. It was a good thing we all got hoodies because it was freezing for us Florida kids. The Hoodies came out great and working with CustomInk was awesome. Helped m..." view full details
PUA by Kamaaina - almost 2 years ago
"We took a Family Picture at a Family Christmas Party at church. I love CustomInk, i plan to do more work with them." view full details
Follow me to Jesus Twitter Style by BullsGapBaptistYouth - almost 2 years ago
"Bulls Gap Baptist Youth were suprised with Christmas Gifts of a Youth Shirt to wear at every event and allow others to Follow us to Jesus Twitter Style. Our twitter account - @BullsGapBaptist on th..." view full details
Holly jolly trolley party! by Heath and Mo - almost 2 years ago
"We organized a trolley party for our church in Kailua, Hawaii. We had ordered these t-shirts for the volunteers. We really stood out! It was so easy working with CustomInk! " view full details
We survived CPCBK2012! by Anne D - almost 2 years ago
"The Big Kahuna is an annual event for the Middle School Youth Group at Columbia Presbyterian Church in Columbia, Maryland. It's an overnight extravaganza that includes games, prizes, pizza, music, ..." view full details
Fall Retreat 2012 by SJB Youth Minister - about 2 years ago
"We took 20 high school teens up to the mountains of Maryland for a weekend retreat called, "Gone Fishin'" and these were the shirts everyone received. The shirts were a huge hit, and several of the..." view full details
TriloWear by Trilogy - about 2 years ago
"On a physical level, I was given the name 'Trilogy' as a testament to me being the 3rd 'Owen William Hartley' in my family. I also used this name as my DJ name for a party that my church hosted. ..." view full details


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Photos and Description of this 1 bedroom holiday apartment in Florence Historic Centre - MASO APARTMENT
Apartment, 1 Bedroom + Convertible bed(s), 1 Bath, (Sleeps 2-6)
Lovely and spacious apartment. Panoramic with a balcony. Centrally located, next to the Arno River. 6th floor with elevator. Large living room with sofa bed for 2 people (140x160 cm) and dining room, equipped kitchen, 1 bedroom, bathroom with bathtub and shower. TV sat, dishwasher, washing machine, air conditioning.
Infant and Children are welcome, we provvide for the cot, high chair and somenthing else under inquiry.
Pet is welcome too.
The apartment has a beautiful balcony with table and chairs that overlooks the landscape of Florence.
The Train Station is only 4 minutes walk, the Duomo is 8 minutes walk.
Classe Energetica G ipe 330kw/mq
Keywords: Flat, Balcony, Lift, High Floor, Downtown, Landscape
- Suitability:
- Minimum Age Limit for Renters
- children welcome
- pets considered
About PAOLA
My name is Paola, I live in a farm in the countryside with my husband Alfredo,we have many kind of animals horses, chicken, dogs, cats and more.....I'm travel consultant and I love art history. Alfredo is a Real Estate Consultant and he plays Polo.
PAOLA purchased this apartment in 2007
What makes this apartment unique
All people came at Maso, left it with a wonderful feeling! Always tell me 'How is the atmosphere at sunset in the balcony in front at Florence skyline'.
Guestbook comments from the owner
Dear Robert
You ll be always welcome. We wish you all the best for New Year !
Paola AND Alfredo


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National Aptitude Test NAT in Pakistan
NAT is also known as National Aptitude Test and this special test has been designed in order to get admissions in NTS associated universities. Students should appear in the single test and eligible for applying admission in all NTS associated universities. Moreover, NAT evaluates and analyze the critical thinking of skills and abilities of analytical reasoning. Furthermore, this special test also assesses the performance system of candidates along with the quantitative ability as well as English language skills.
On the web page, students will find the detailed information and explanation of each section of NAT. Before giving this test, it is important that students should know its certain and main points like the introduction of NAT test, eligibility criteria of NAT, pattern of this test, sections of NAT and many more other information. Moreover, discuss the important and useful tips for passing this test with good marks.
Latest NAT
NAT Test Schedule And Test Dates
Posted By: :Ali Hassan Date: 2013-07-03
NAT Cities and Contact Information
Posted By: :Ali Hassan Date: 2013-06-30
NAT Test format and subjects
Posted By: :Ali Hassan Date: 2013-06-30
NAT Test Eligibility and Registration Process
Posted By: :Ali Hassan Date: 2013-06-30
NAT Test Information
Posted By: :Ali Hassan Date: 2013-06-21
NAT Test Fee
Posted By: :Ali Hassan Date: 2013-06-21


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Saturday, October 27th, 2012
I'm taking cues from Africa is a Country's contributors this week. First up, Boima dropped by Amsterdam's African Hip-Hop radio's studio and delivered this set. One of the tracks featured on there is 'TOHL' (above) by Togo-born tabi Bonney (real name: Tabiabuè — father: Itadi Bonney), featuring Fat Trel. I don't believe it was aired on
Friday, June 8th, 2012
Tchobari duo shot the video for 'Quem Mandou? (Me Nascer)' in Catambor, Luanda "to show a different side of our city".


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4 bed, 3 full bath, 1 half bath. 500 acre wildlife preserve is an outstanding backdrop for this impressive two story brick colonialMore info
3 bed, 2 full bath. Immaculate 1-story home in Sugar Mill Plantation; open layout; beautiful Carolina room; kitchen incMore info
2 bed, 3 full bath, 1 half bath. This is a very unique property. Two structures. Main House has 1 bedroom/2 Baths, Living room, eatMore info
3 bed, 2 full bath. The Diamond model with some unique features including a custom 6' pantry and large sliding glass reMore info
4 bed, 3 full bath. This plan feels much bigger than its 1435 square feet. Has beautiful open floor plan with large bedMore info
3 bed, 2 full bath. This is the Whitehall floorplan. Open floor plan with 3 bedrooms and 2 full baths all on one level.More info
3 bed, 2 full bath. This "Water Views - Lake series" home should be finished by February 1, 2015. A Bill Clark Homes MaMore info
3 bed, 2 full bath. Under contract to-be-built.More info
3 bed, 2 full bath. Large 1700 square foot home with extra garage bay. Features laminate and ceramic floors, granite anMore info
3 bed, 2 full bath. Spacious and open home, large 3 bedroom 2 bath home with split floor plan, situated on one of the lMore info


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- chris the wine guy Jul 20, 2008 11:53 AM
Djeet in Middletown, prepared foods and whatnot. I have driven by probably a thousand times and have not yet tried it. Any reviews?
Only went once as it's kind of out of the way for me. They have a seasonal menu. I was there in the spring and had a coconut chicken wrap, a salad with an asian dressing, and a chocolate chip cookie. The guys who own djeet seem pretty enthusiastic. The chocolate chip cookie was pretty darn good and I liked the salad. I was so so on the wrap. I'll give them another try next time I'm in the area.
I do remember someone on the best burger thread raving about a burger they had there.
I posted the above review Chris.I also posted in a 'Best Burger' thread here.(The burger was truly outstanding IMO ) Unfortunately due to my work hours (conflicting with open times ) and schedule i've not been able to frequent it as often as I would like.This place is a real jewel and i'm afraid that if more people don't frequent it, it could fall by the wayside.I say this because i've mentioned it on here and there has been barely any response and also to some local friends who made the exact same drive bye comments as you.The food is prepared by an ex Fromagerie / Mumfords chef I believe and is head and shoulders above the norm for quality food in this area.It's like a Savoury version of Flakey Tart if you get the analogy !Try it,and defeat the food philistines who would rather support the usual crap we have offered in the delis etc.
My son & I go each time we have a haircut appt (nearby). The burgers remain our favorite. Last time I was there the place was very busy so we are hoping that word of mouth will result in Djeet? being around for a good long time!
The wife and I went there this past Saturday 7/19 for breakfast. Fritatas were excellent and at $6.95 a great value and made with fresh veggies. Excellent coffee and very lovely ambiance but very little seating as there are only a couple of tables inside. The are not trying to be an eat in restaurant at all. Their bag is catering and take away. No dinner just breakfast and lunch. But do go there and try their food - it really is outstanding!
They even have a garden in the back and grow their own fresh organic veggies...
re: bzahl805
They have re-located to Shrewsbury in the same mall a Williams Sonoma etc. (I forget the name?) I intend to try them for dinner once they've settled in and hit thier stride,which won't be long knowing them.
re: xny556cip
The have relocated to the Grove in Shrewsbury. Here is the thread on the topic: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/574607
re: bgut1
And someone else has just started another one: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/640273
Did dinner at Djeet? tonight (Yeah, yeah, I usually wait, but the initial impressions seemed positive). The atmosphere is orders of magnitude nicer than the original location. Stark blacks & whites with metallic accents give it an urban NYC vibe. I do worry that all the windows, exposed plaster and tile floors may result in a noisy venue should the room fill up.
Food... Ah yes! I started with the grilled peach salad that added a seasonal touch to the meal. Added pine nuts and a slab of cream cheese added crunchy and smooth elements.
Normally at this time of year I wouldn't go for braised short ribs, but what the hey? They were fork tender and the cauliflower mashed potatoes and greens added nice contrasts.
One note: the unseasoned olive oil and soulless bread served at the table need a bit of tweaking. Maybe the option of an herbed butter or something?
All in all, a good meal. Even in the current economy this place should fare well...
Scanned copy of menu be here: http://www.exit109.com/~mstevens/Take...


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Nautel Launches Fall 2009 Online Webinar Series
Hackett's Cove, NS - Nov 5, 2009 - Nautel has planned a series of webinars covering IBOC injection levels, the recently expanded NV Series of FM transmitters, the company's NX Series MW transmitters, the NX Series 25kW and 50kW transmitters, and a session on "getting the most out of Nautel Customer Support". All webinars are free but require advance registration.
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Szymanski & Sons Inc.
3 Reviews
Serving Baltimore, MD License: 31758
Szymanski & Sons is the name you can count on for all your home improvement needs. Serving Maryland residents proudly since 1987, we have satisfied countless clients, going above and beyond all expectations. We have a unique awareness of our customers' needs. You want a contractor that will be att...
Additions Etc. LLC
1 Review
"They built a screened-in deck room. I love the work that Additions Etc. do. The guys were professional and I love th..."
Serving Baltimore, MD License: 03542728
Additoins Etc. LLC is a full service construction and remodeling company that prides itself in quality, design and price. We are your one stop service provider for all your new and remodeling construction needs. We have an architech on staff available to assist you in planning your DREAM project and...
Handyman On Call
3 Reviews
"High quality work. Decent and capable people. Priced a bit on the high side, but one feels safe with these people i..."
Serving Baltimore, MD License: 125988
In the past 10 years, Handyman On Call has established a reputation of reasonably priced, timely, and outstanding handyman services. We've accomplished hundreds of remodeling, renovation and building projects throughout Maryland and have proudly earned our customers' respect with each job. With over...
Four Gen Remodeling
Serving Baltimore, MD License: 93735
FourGen Remodeling truly represents four generations of the Kotlas family's dedication to the residential remodeling industry. Let us show you how Koty and Alex, the third and fourth generations of the family, continue to deliver high quality work at reasonable prices. As you examine each sectio...
Other Local Baltimore, Maryland Carpenters:
We are a handyman service that does everything from lawn-care to home additions. Our contractors have a collective 150 yrs of experience from handyma...
Charm City Remodeling was founded in 2009 to provide high quality remodeling services to the Baltimore Metro area with over 45 years of combined exper...
"A" Company Home Improvements is a locally owned and operated general contracting company specializing in residential remodeling. We are state-license...
Hardwood floors are extremely durable and appealing. They can give any room an elegant, polished look, and go well almost any decor. If you're planning on installing hardwood floors without the aid of a Baltimore, Maryland carpenter, there are a few things you should keep in mind. For one, most problems with hardwood floors are due to moisture – either too much or not enough. If your wood panels dry out after they're installed, gaps will form. If there's too much moisture the panels can buckle. Additionally, make sure the sub-floor is completely level and smooth before installing a new floor. Minor gaps and bumps can cause damage to your floor over time. For more information contact a Baltimore carpentry contractor.
More Professionals in Baltimore
Baltimore Concrete contractors | Baltimore Electricians | Baltimore Exterminators | Baltimore Flooring contractors | Baltimore Handyman services | Baltimore HVAC contractors | Baltimore Landscapers | Baltimore Painters | Baltimore Plumbers | Baltimore Remodeling contractors | Baltimore Roofers | Baltimore Tile contractors
Carpenters Near Baltimore:
Elkridge, MD Linthicum Heights, MD Gwynn Oak, MD Pikesville, MD Dundalk, MD Brooklyn, MD Curtis Bay, MD Halethorpe, MD Catonsville, MD Rosedale, MD
US Census Information for Baltimore, Maryland
Population age 85 and older 10,350 Population age 18 and older 487,401 Female population age 30-34 23,780 Median age of female population 35.70 Family households with no wife 14,156


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Search Birding Beijing
The Author
Recent Posts
Follow me on TwitterMy Tweets
Birding Beijing on Facebook
China resources
- A Checklist of the Bird of Beijing (2014)
- A Checklist of the Birds of China
- A list of China's "Endangered" or "Critically Endangered" Birds
- China Bird Tours (recommended!)
- China Birding on Facebook
- China Wild Tour
- Chinese Currents
- Hong Kong Birdwatching Society
- John and Jemi Holmes in Hong Kong
- Latest bird records in China
- Latest from China on BirdForum
- Latest weather in Beijing
- Per Alström's Masterclass on Chinese Phylloscs and Seicercus Warblers
- Per Alström's Research Page
- Shanghai Birding Tours
- Sichuan Birds
- Swedish Bird Ringing at Beidaihe
- Tibet Birds
Regional reads
- Amur Birding Blog
- Bamboo Fish
- Birding Mongolia
- Birds Korea
- Dave Bakewell – Dig Deep, Malaysia (new site)
- Global Flyway Network – shorebird flagging and colour-banding
- Japanese Gull Site (excellent for those tricky East Asian gulls…)
- Korean Gulls
- Oriental Bird Club
- Spoon-billed Sandpiper Expedition Blog
- Stu Price in Hakodate, Hokkaido
- Xeno-canto Asia (Asian bird calls and songs)
Further Afield
- Alan Tilmouth
- Batumi Raptor Count (Georgia)
- Birding Benstead (Sweden)
- Chris Gibbins – Gulls in north-east Scotland
- Earbirding
- Lowestoft Birds
- Martin Garner
- Netfugl (Denmark and WP)
- Talking Naturally with Charlie Moores
- Winterton Bird Spotting Collective (news from my original local patch)
- Yoav Perlman's Birding in Israel blog
Companies supporting the Jankowski's Bunting Appeal
Popular Topics (click to find relevant posts)Amur Falcon Asian House Martin Asian Rosy Finch Baer's Pochard Baikal Teal Bai Qingquan Beijing Ben Wielstra Blunt-winged Warbler Bohemian Waxwing Botanical Gardens Brian Jones Bull-headed Shrike Chinese Grey Shrike Chinese Hill Warbler Choshi Colm Moore Common Kingfisher Dalian Dandong Donggang Dusky Thrush Eastern Marsh Harrier Great Bustard Greater Sand Plover Greater Spotted Eagle Hebei Province Jan-Erik Nilsen Jankowski's Bunting Japan Japanese Waxwing Jennifer Leung Jesper Hornskov Jinzhou Bay Laotieshan Liaoning Province Lingshan Ma Chang Migration Miyun Reservoir Mongolian Lark Nanpu Olympic Forest Park Oriental Plover Oriental Stork Pallas's Rosefinch Paul Holt Per Alström Peregrine Peter Cawley Red-flanked Bluetail Relict Gull Ritan Park Rudong Saker Schrenck's Bittern Shahe Reservoir Shanghai Shidu Shi Jin Short-toed Eagle Siberian Crane Spike Millington Spoon-billed Sandpiper Streaked Reed Warbler Summer Palace Tom Beeke Trip Report upland buzzard White-naped Crane Wild Duck Lake Wu Ling Shan Yellow Bittern yeyahu Yeyahu NR
Tag Archives: Schrenck's Bittern
Juvenile BAER'S POCHARD?
On 26-27 July I visited the BAER'S POCHARD breeding site in Hebei Province with visiting British birders, Mike Hoit and Andrew Whitehouse, plus Beijing-based Paul Holt and Jennifer Leung. Mike and Andrew had just arrived in China ahead of a … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Andrew Whitehouse, Baer's Pochard, Hebei Province, Jennifer Leung, Mike Hoit, Paul Holt, Schrenck's Bittern 2 Comments
Baer's Pochard update
On Thursday I visited the BAER'S POCHARD breeding site with visiting Dick Newell, Lyndon Kearsley (from the swift project) and good friends Andrew and Rachael Raine. It was one of the hottest days I have ever experienced in Beijing with … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Baer's Pochard, Hebei Province, Reed Parrotbill, Schrenck's Bittern 10 Comments
Late August at Yeyahu
On Saturday 24 August I visited Yeyahu NR with visiting Professor Steven Marsh. I collected Steve from his hotel at 0530 on a beautiful clear, sunny morning and, after a pretty clear run over the mountains past Badaling, we were … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Beijing, Blunt-winged Warbler, Relict Gull, Schrenck's Bittern, Tiger Shrike, Yeyahu NR Leave a comment
China is a good place to see bitterns. In addition to the Great Bittern (the one familiar to European readers), it is also possible to see Black Bittern, Cinnamon Bittern, Von Schrenck's Bittern and Yellow Bittern. Of the smaller bitterns, … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Beijing, Cinnamon Bittern, Hebei Province, Schrenck's Bittern, Yellow Bittern 8 Comments
Twice in the last few days, inspired by the reports from this site by Shi Jin on Birdforum, I visited the Wenyu River in the Chaoyang District of Beijing. It is a fantastic area of paddies, weedy fields and even … Continue reading