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Saturday, February 16, 2013
Friday, February 15, 2013
Kenyan shilling dips as vote nears, shares halt rally
NAIROBI (Reuters) - The Kenyan shilling weakened against the dollar for the first time in seven sessions on Thursday as companies cut their exposure to the local currency ahead of an election next month.
In stocks, the main share index fell for the first time in 12 sessions as investors disappointed by Barclays earnings released on Wednesday sold off previously red-hot bank and telecoms shares.
The shilling was posted at 87.40/50 per dollar at the 1300 GMT close, down 0.1 percent from Wednesday's close of 87.20/40.
"Some corporates are looking to cover themselves ahead of the elections," said Ignatius Chicha, head of markets at Citibank. "But given liquidity is tight, the shilling will be well supported."
The east African nation holds a presidential election on March 4. The last leadership ballot in 2007 was followed by ethnic violence that severely damaged the economy.
The shilling has gained 0.3 percent against the dollar since February 5, helped by the central bank mopping up liquidity, which has sent short-term interest rates higher.
In the money markets, the weighted average interbank lending rate climbed to 9.7 percent on Wednesday from 9.4 percent on Tuesday.
The rate has risen for 21 consecutive sessions from a low of 5.43 percent on January 15, due to the tight liquidity.
The shilling is still down 1.3 percent in the year to date, mainly due to pressure from importers buying dollars to stock up on goods ahead of the vote.
"With the general elections just round the corner, the shilling still is not out of the woods, however it's much better placed at the moment than before," said Bank of Africa in a daily note.
At the Nairobi Securities Exchange, the benchmark index edged down 0.2 percent to 4,637.54 points led by market heavyweights.
The index had rallied 5.6 percent since January 29, driven by investors buying stocks, especially in banks, ahead of the release of full-year earnings which they expect to be strong due to falling interest rates and lower inflation last year.
"What came out with Barclays Bank (yesterday) did not give good signals to the market. Guys are rethinking their strategies," said Rufus Mwanyasi, an analyst at Tsavo Securities.
Barclays posted a lower-than-expected 8 percent rise in its full-year pre-tax profit on Wednesday.
Kenya Commercial Bank, the country's biggest bank by assets, dropped 3.9 percent to 37 shillings a share. The regional bank's shares had rallied 14.9 percent since February 1.
Safaricom, the country's leading telecoms operator and the most traded stock on the bourse, shed 1.8 percent to 5.60 shillings a share, while East African Breweries fell 2.2 percent to 308 shillings ahead of its half-year earnings on Friday.
The two stocks are the most capitalised on the Nairobi bourse.
On the primary debt market, the weighted average yield on the 91-day Treasury bills fell to 8.213 percent on Thursday from 8.229 percent last week.
On the secondary debt market, bonds worth 414.7 million shillings were traded, up from 256.6 million shillings on Wednesday.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kenyan-shilling-dips-vote-nears-shares-halt-rally-154006908--finance.html
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Brown University launching public health school
Providence?? Brown University is launching a School of Public Health this summer. The university says its governing board on Wednesday approved the creation of the school. Brown already has a public health program with 261 undergraduate and graduate students, but the move will elevate its status to a full school.
? Read More
Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/id/50810374/ns/local_news-providence_ri/
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Beyonce Has Some Valentine's Day Tips For All The 'Single Ladies'!
'Best Thing I Never Had' singer passes along some advice to MTV News that might just snag you a BF on the candy-coated holiday.
By Rebecca Thomas
Beyoncé
Photo: MTV News
Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1701978/valentines-day-beyonce-advice.jhtml
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Semiconductor interfaces: Big opportunities for tiny insulators
Feb. 13, 2013 ? A model that predicts real-world behaviors of insulator interfaces makes designing 'nano-electronic' materials significantly simpler.
Advances in miniaturization have made electronic devices cheaper and more powerful, but these procedures also create new challenges for materials scientists. For example, traditional silicon dioxide insulators used in field-effect transistors begin to leak small amounts of current at nanoscale dimensions. To combat this problem, researchers have developed insulators called 'high-k dielectrics' that link heavier elements, such as hafnium or zirconium, into insulating oxide films with exceptional charge-isolating capabilities.
Integrating high-k dielectrics into circuits, however, creates a different manufacturing problem. Localized electric fields known as charged dipoles can form at insulator-semiconductor interfaces and generate unwanted voltages that impact device performance. Sing Yang Chiam from the A*STAR Institute of Materials Research and Engineering in Singapore and co-workers have now developed a model that can identify interface dipole problems before they appear1 -- a finding that promises to help end the 'trial-and-error' design issues typical of high-k dielectrics.
Currently, materials scientists employ extensive quantum mechanical calculations to determine whether or not new high-k dielectrics will have interface dipoles. Chiam and co-workers investigated a more intuitive approach: they linked the appearance of interface dipoles to the classical property of electronegativity, a number that relates an element's electron-attracting power to its position in the periodic table.
Scientists have previously avoided estimating dipoles with electronegativity values because, in many cases, they predict incorrect electric field polarities. To resolve this discrepancy, Chiam and co-workers correlated theoretical electronegativity with experimental 'charge neutrality levels' -- electronic energies required to counterbalance dipoles on insulator interfaces. After measuring the charge neutrality on several different high-k dielectrics with X-ray and ultraviolet radiation (see image), the team plotted this data against electronegativity. They discovered that a simple linear equation connected the two parameters.
Further manipulation of this equation revealed it could also predict a so-called 'dipole neutrality point' (DNP) where interfacial dipoles flip polarity. Armed with this new theoretical tool, the researchers investigated both well-known and novel high-k dielectric/semiconductor interfaces. They found that the DNP concept provided accurate predictions of dipole polarity and strength: the offset voltages needed to turn on a high-k dielectric field-effect transistor closely matched values generated from the electronegativity values.
Chiam notes that the straightforwardness of this model should make it exceptionally practical for scientific discovery. "This is the simplest method to find dipoles at material interfaces before starting experiments," he says. "Our model can predict what kinds of bulk or interface modifications are needed to offset dipole values -- a significant time saving over traditional approaches."
The A*STAR-affiliated researchers contributing to this research are from the Institute of Materials Research and Engineering
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by The Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR).
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
- Z. Q. Liu, W. K. Chim, S. Y. Chiam, J. S. Pan, C. M. Ng. An interface dipole predictive model for high-k dielectric/semiconductor heterostructures using the concept of the dipole neutrality point. Journal of Materials Chemistry, 2012; 22 (34): 17887 DOI: 10.1039/C2JM32589F
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
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American Airlines-US Airways: What it means for you
Now that the long-rumored merger between American Airlines and US Airways is finally a reality, travelers may be nervous about what?s next -- and rightly so.
?There will be winners and losers,? said Tim Winship, editor and publisher of FrequentFlier.com.
Here are some of the consequences you can expect with the creation of the world?s newest mega-carrier.
Airfares won?t immediately shoot higher
Fliers planning a trip on either carrier don?t need to worry that tickets will suddenly become more expensive overnight. Nothing will probably change in the very near term, said George Hobica, founder of Airfarewatchdog.com.
?It?s going to take them quite a while before these two airlines are actually one airline,? he predicted.
But airfares will eventually increase
When the merger is finally consummated and the combined airline starts cutting or combining routes, fares will go up, especially for business travelers who do same-day round trips, don?t stay over Saturday night or don?t have an advance purchase, Hobica said.
Routes that will be most affected are those that American and US Airways both flew non-stop, such as Charlotte, N.C., to Miami; and Dallas to Philadelphia, he added.
?We?ve seen this happen time and time again in previous mergers,? Hobica said.
Rick Seaney, CEO of FareCompare.com, noted that competition is the main driver of cheaper airline ticket prices, so with fewer carriers competing for your business, there?s less incentive to cut fares.
?The only good news is that if airlines get too frisky with higher prices, consumers will let them know quickly by cutting back on air travel,? Seaney said. ?With so few domestic airlines ... consumers? wallet size will be the last line of defense.?
The transition will be a pain for travelers
There?s no doubt about it: Fliers will likely have to endure some computer glitches, reservation snafus and system hiccups when the two airlines begin to integrate their operations.
Typically, there are problems during mergers, Hobica said, though he pointed out that the marriage between Delta Air Lines and Northwest went smoothly.
But just look at United Airlines, which experienced several major computer problems last year as it tried to combine systems after its merger with Continental. In some cases, passengers were stranded for hours.
?I would be very surprised if there were no glitches,? Winship said. ?At the end of the day, the new company will be the world?s largest airline ... that won?t happen without a lot of pain.?
He recommended that frequent fliers check their accounts carefully just to make sure all of their miles show up correctly after the two carriers become one.
Elite-status fliers expecting an upgrade may be in for a surprise
When the two airlines? frequent flier programs merge, there will suddenly be an overabundance of elite-status members competing for perks, particularly upgrades, Winship noted.
?There are only so many upgrades to go around,? he said. ?At least in the first year, it?s going to be very difficult ? especially for lower-level elites ? (to get upgraded) because they have the lowest priority ... it?s going to be a serious problem for people who have made it a priority to earn elite status.?
Longer term, the sudden glut of elites may ease somewhat because fliers will have to requalify to get their status for the following year, Winship said.
Still, airlines industry-wide have been cutting back on benefits for lower-level elites so that carriers have more to offer for their most profitable customers, he added.
Hobica thinks the combined airline will follow the Delta model, which will reward passengers who spend the most money on tickets, not just fly the most miles.
The new airline will be stronger
This is the good news about the marriage of American Airlines and US Airways, experts said. The new carrier is poised to deliver a better product and become a bigger player on a global scale.
?(The merger) is likely to make the combined entities stronger in the long run ? thus more profitable,? Seaney said.
?With financial stability airlines can improve their woefully neglected product. Consumers will be much more likely to board their next flight on a plane built this century and in many cases even this decade.?
Hobica noted that international carriers, such as Turkish Airlines, are starting to add routes from U.S. airports, hoping to siphon off lucrative international travelers, especially those flying in international business class. The merger will help the new airline compete with those carriers, Hobica said.
?It will definitely be stronger,? he added.
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Reid Warns GOP on Hagel Filibuster, 'This Isn't High School'
The Republican filibuster of Chuck Hagel's nomination as defense secretary is "unprecedented" and "tragic," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said today.
"There are serious consequences to this delay," Reid said from the Senate floor this morning. "It's shocking that my Republican colleagues would leave the nation without a fully empowered secretary of defense during all the things we have going on in the world."
The Senate vote is scheduled for Friday morning. While Senate Democrats hope that the timing could move to today, it is clear they do not have 60 votes needed to bring an end to Republican debate over President Obama's nomination of Hagel.
The Senate will head next week into a week-long recess for President's Day. Reid said if Hagel is not moved through before then, it would leave the nation without a defense secretary. He pointed to the NATO defense minister meeting in Brussels next week, noting that it would send a "terrible signal" to not have a U.S. secretary of defense at that meeting.
"What we have now in the Senate a situation where we're going to wind up without a secretary of defense at this time," Reid said.
The Pentagon has said the current Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta intends to stay in office until Hagel is confirmed.
This would be the first time a filibuster is used against a defense secretary nominee and the third time it's been used against a cabinet nominee. Republicans are demanding more information from the administration over the terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, and pledging to hold strong in their opposition for the Hagel nomination to go through until their questions are answered.
"Chuck Hagel had nothing to do with the attack in Benghazi," Reid lamented on the floor of the Senate.
"This isn't high school getting ready for a football game or some play that's being produced at high school," Reid said. "We're trying to confirm somebody to run the defenses of our country, the military of our country."
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