NEW YORK – Looking for UGG boots? Or what about the last string of holiday lights or inflatable Santas to spruce up the lawn? You might be out of luck.

Some last-minute holiday shoppers are facing disappointment. Stores are running out of key holiday items — and not just Zhu Zhu pets, those robotic hamsters that have been hard to find since before Thanksgiving.

Even sparkly tops, skirts and scarves are running scarce at some stores. Bloomingdale's spokeswoman Anne Keating said that the upscale department store chain has sold out practically of "anything that sparkles" over the past week.

Of course, even ambitious shoppers who got a head-start faced some hurdles beyond the toy aisles. At Mall of America, the nation's biggest shopping center, an $85 wallet by popular designer Tory Burch in an array of colors — blue, gold and black — was sold out prior to Thanksgiving, before the mall had a chance to pull it from its holiday advertisments, according to Mall of America spokeswoman Bridget Jewell.

It's a switch from last year, when piles of holiday treasures were discounted up to 90 percent as a freefall in spending left merchants swimming in inventory.

But this year, stores cut inventories, willing to take a risk of running out of items rather than having to slash prices. The strategy is expected to boost fourth-quarter profits but may limit sales in the final days and even after Christmas.

Of course, shoppers who have a generic holiday list — a black sweater or a flat-panel TV in any brand — will find plenty to choose from. But slim pickings on key items are frustrating some shoppers, who appear to be delaying purchases more this year than last year.

"Stores need to have a good selection" for last-minute buyers, Laura Gurski, partner in the retail practice of A.T. Kearney, a global management consultant. She also wonders how stores will excite shoppers to come back after Christmas if leftovers are skimpy.

A look at what's hard to find:

CLOTHING AND ACCESSORIES: At Bloomingdales, Burberry down coats, Hunter's original Gloss Wellington rain boots, along with the socks that are sold separately, are sold out or almost sold out, Keating said payday loan companies.

She noted that the chain is getting regular shipments of UGG boots but they are selling out. Also scarce are denim leggins by Daddy Long Legs, she said.

Nordstrom's spokeswoman Brooke White reports limited quantities of the Wellington boots in pea green, violet or graphite, while the store has sold out of Bosca's magnetic money clips in dark brown leather and The North Face's women's fleece in colors like pink, black and white.

The upscale store has also sold out of charm necklaces with such messages as "Truth" and "Peace."

HOME DECOR: Most holiday decorations are gone at home-improvement chains Home Depot and Lowe's. Both say energy-efficient LED holiday lights have been gone for days.

Most inflatable lawn ornaments have sold out. Another key item that shoppers can't find is Home Depot's lighted reindeer and sleigh lawn decor.

Lowe's said the most popular inflatables were the least expensive — a 4-foot Santa and a 4-foot snowman, retailing each for $19.97, have sold out.

TOYS: Those who haven't gotten their hands on Zhu Zhu pets yet may have to wait until after Christmas.

Toys R Us spokeswoman Kathleen Waugh said that the toy retailer sold 1 million of them in the past week and is receiving a couple of hundred thousand more before Christmas. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is getting about 20 to 60 per store per day through Wednesday, but the rodents sell out immediately.

Many of the hot toys are scarce, including Mattel Inc.'s Rocky the Robot and Mindflex which measures brain waves and uses them to push a ball through a course and Hasbro Inc.'s Chuck My Talking Truck.

Jim Silver, an analyst at Timetoplaymag.com, said there are more toy shortages this year than last year.

___

AP Retail Writer Mae Anderson contributed to this report.

Holiday stragglers find shortages of hot items

Hot News: State Street to Buy Securities Business of Italian Bank

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Shares in Dutch luxury carmaker Spyker soared on Monday after the company made a new bid for General Motors&&9;s Swedish car brand Saab.

The partly Russian owned Spyker said on Sunday it had lodged a renewed fast-track offer to buy Saab from GM just two days after last-ditch talks with GM over a rescue of the loss-making Swedish manufacturer collapsed. The offer from Spyker Cars expires at 2200 GMT (5 p.m. EST) on Monday.

Shares in Spyker Cars rose as much as 34.5 percent and were up 26.9 percent at 2.17 euros by 1051 GMT (5:51 a.m. EST) in Amsterdam as its renewed approach to Saab raised hopes the small Dutch firm may exponentially expand operations and perhaps become profitable.

"The stock&&9;s value is close to nothing but if they succeed to buy Saab, invest, and turn the company around then the shares can become valuable," said a Dutch analyst who declined to be named.

Abandoning the 60-year-old Swedish auto brand would eliminate 3,400 jobs in Sweden and hit 1,100 Saab dealers, but General Motors said on Sunday it would evaluate several new expressions of interest for Saab.

Spyker, which Russian banking tycoon Vladimir Antonov holds an almost 30 percent stake in, said on Sunday it submitted a renewed offer including an 11-point proposal addressing issues that arose during the due diligence process.

Russian state-controlled Sberbank and Canada&&9;s Magna tried to buy a stake in GM&&9;s Opel unit until GM decided to keep it last month business cards. Russia is keen to obtain Western technology to re-energize its local car industry.

"We&&9;re very confident we have put forward a proposal that can convince GM in time," Spyker Cars Chief Executive Victor Muller told Reuters in a telephone interview on Sunday.

"The jury&&9;s still out. We will see what happens next."

The new offer eliminates the need for a European Investment Bank (EIB) loan approval prior to year end, which would allow the deal to be concluded within GM&&9;s deadline of December 31.

"We can&&9;t comment on this deal as this is something between Spyker and General Motors," said Eric Geers, spokesman for Saab Automobile.

Paul Akerlund, local union leader at Saab in Trollhattan, said: "It&&9;s positive. It shows that there is a genuine interest in buying (Saab), but now the ball is in GM&&9;s court and I don&&9;t know how GM views this. That remains to be seen."

Spyker, maker of the C8 Aileron and D8 luxury sport-utility vehicle, got rescue financing in 2007 from Abu Dhabi&&9;s sovereign fund Mubadala, which holds 23 percent of the company, while Spyker Chief Executive Victor Muller owns 10 percent.

(Reporting by Gilbert Kreijger and Aaron Gray-Block in Amsterdam and Nick Vinocur in Stockholm)

Spyker shares soar as GM mulls new offer for Saab

Skeptical kids can doubt whether Santa Claus exists. But for stock-market statisticians, there's not much debate: The year-end lift known as the Santa Claus rally is no myth.

The stock market typically posts modest, but reliable, gains in late December into the beginning of early January.

"It's pretty much like clockwork," says Jeff Hirsch, editor of the Stock Trader's Almanac, which tracks market trends. "And when it doesn't happen, it can be a very helpful warning of impending trouble."

This year the stock market began December in somewhat typical fashion with a stagnant first half of the month. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index is up just 0.6 percent so far in December, and the Dow Jones industrial average is down 0.2 percent.

That leaves room for the market to snap back by the end of the year, although stocks are still facing headwinds from lingering doubts about the economy as well as trepidation among investors about the huge gains logged so far this year. The S&P is already up 22 percent in 2009, the Dow 18 percent.

The entire period around the end of the year, though, has a bullish track record.

Consider:

&S226; November through January tends to be the best three-month span for stocks. Over the past four decades the average gain from Nov. 20 through the end of January has been 4.2 percent, or an annualized rate of 23 percent, according to James Stack, president of InvesTech Research in Whitefish, Mont.

&S226; December is the best single month, with the Standard & Poor's 500 stock index averaging a 1.6 percent gain. The first December after a bear market ends performs even better, averaging 3.1 percent.

&S226; The S&P has increased an average of 1.5 percent during the seven trading days that start with Christmas Eve and end with the first two days in January since 1950. That's the widely recognized period for the Santa Claus rally, as first identified in 1972 by Stock Trader's Almanac founder Yale Hirsch, Jeff's father.

&S226; Stocks went up in 12 of the last 15 of those year-end periods saving account payday loan.

To better understand what drives the Santa Claus rally, let's look at the variety of positive factors for the stock market that usually come together around this time of the year.

The holidays are the strongest retail season of the year, giving a boost to the economy while also generating positive headlines. Year-end investment reports also tend to offer upbeat outlooks for the coming year, and often plug hot stock picks just as investors are repositioning their portfolios.

And since lots of investors are already in a good mood this time of year anyway, more people tend to be buying rather than selling around the holidays.

"It's one of the most reliable rallies of the year," says Scott Marcouiller, senior equity strategist for Wells Fargo Advisers. "The probability is very high that we get a move up before the end of this year."

Also, investors who might normally sell stocks for tax purposes late in the year could be more likely to hold off this time around. Since this stock market rally is only nine months old, any gains from stocks bought this year would be considered short-term profits by the IRS. That would mean a much higher tax rate than gains on assets held for more than a year.

Even those who aren't interested in buying stocks during the holiday season would do well to keep an eye on the market. In years when there hasn't been enough enthusiasm for a Santa Claus rally, it's often been a sign that turmoil lies ahead.

After 1999, for example, when there was no Santa Claus rally, the market tanked in 2000. And a late-year drop two years ago was a forerunner to a disastrous 2008.

Some market experts take dim views of trends based on the calendar. But the Santa Claus rally still has plenty of believers on Wall Street.

Santa Claus rally could still show up this year

PARIS &S212; Spyker Cars, the tiny Dutch automaker whose last-ditch bid for Saab was rejected Friday by General Motors, came back Sunday with a renewed offer for the struggling Swedish icon, which G.M. has said it plans to shut down.

A spokesman for G.M. reacted cautiously to Spyker&S217;s new offer, which many industry insiders consider a long shot. However, he said other potential buyers had expressed interest in Saab since Friday&S217;s announcement.

&S220;We continue to wind down Saab but during that process we&S217;ve received several expressions of interest and we evaluate these offers as they come, but beyond that we&S217;re not making any comment,&S221; said Chris Preuss, the G.M. spokesman.

G.M. said Friday that it did not think a deal could be concluded by its Dec. 31 deadline because of concerns about Spyker that arose during the final negotiations. G.M. said that left it no alternative but to begin winding down Saab&S217;s operations in Trollhattan, Sweden.

Upping the ante Sunday, Victor Muller, Spyker&S217;s chief executive, said he had presented G.M. with an 11-point proposal that addressed the automaker&S217;s concerns. He imposed a deadline of his own of 5 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on Monday for G.M. to respond to his offer.

&S220;Despite our collective 11th-hour set-back, we are returning to the table with a renewed offer that addresses every known issue brought to light during the initial negotiations and that has the full backing of the Saab Management,&S221; Mr. Muller said in a statement.

Publicly, G.M. executives declined to identify their problems with Spyker, but several officials familiar with the negotiations said G.M. was troubled by Spyker&S217;s reliance on Russian loans to finance the deal, as well as the fate of its proprietary technology under Spyker.

The biggest investor in Spyker is the Russian bank Convers Group, which is controlled by Alexander Antonov, a tycoon who was shot seven times and reportedly lost a finger in a failed assassination attempt in Moscow in March.

His son Vladimir, 34, is a top executive at Convers and chairman of Spyker.

In the first half of 2009, Spyker borrowed &S364;11.6 million, or $16.6 million, from Bank Snoras, a Lithuanian bank also controlled by the Antonovs.

Another snag had been the question of whether Spyker could win a &S364;400 million loan from the European Investment Bank that had been part of an earlier plan to sell Saab to Koenigsegg, a Swedish maker of high-end sports cars. That deal collapsed last month.

In his statement Sunday, Mr. Muller said Spyker, whose specialty sports cars retail for roughly a quarter-million dollars each, could complete the deal without the European Investment Bank&S217;s help.

&S220;The new offer eliminates the need for an E.I.B. loan approval prior to year-end, for example, which will allow the deal to be concluded within G.M.&S217;s deadline,&S221; he said.

&S220;Our company motto is nulla tenaci invia est via &S212; for the tenacious no road is impassable,&S221; Mr. Muller added. &S220;And we intend to remain true to that throughout these negotiations as we bid to secure Saab&S217;s future and revive the company.&S221;

In Trollhattan, which was hit hard by Friday&S217;s announcement, the new Spyker offer provoked a brief flurry of hope.

&S220;It&S217;s good news, of course, but it&S217;s difficult to say too much,&S221; said Paul Akerlund, chairman of the IF Metall union at Saab, which represents about 1,500 of the automaker&S217;s 3,500 employees in Trollhattan infrared heaters. &S220;Now we&S217;re waiting to see what G.M. says, but we know Spyker really wants to buy Saab.&S221;

&S220;People still have hopes but they&S217;re waiting on G.M.,&S221; he added.

Saab was set to introduce a new version of its 9-5 luxury sedan in showrooms in April, the first update of the company&S217;s top-end car in 12 years. But G.M. said Friday the car would not make it to market if Saab does indeed shut down.

The region around Trollhattan and Gotenburg in western Sweden is home to both Saab and Volvo, and Saab&S217;s collapse would devastate the network of parts makers and other firms that supply the two companies.

On Saturday, the Swedish press reported that a consortium of local investors was considering a new bid for Saab, which, along with Volvo and Ikea, is among the country&S217;s best-known brands.

Even as the Saab drama plays out, Volvo Car is in the final stages of being sold by Ford Motor to Zhejiang Geely Holding of China.

After G.M.&S217;s decision to walk away Friday, Mr. Akerlund said, &S220;some people were frustrated, some were angry and some were sad. Maybe this new offer can help so we can have a solution at the end of the day.&S221;

Since the beginning of the year, G.M. has been trying to unload Saab, which has been a perennial money-loser despite a devoted following in Scandinavia, the northeastern United States and parts of Europe.

With sales of just 93,000 cars worldwide, Saab proved too small to draw the interest of bigger automakers that are looking to global alliances to achieve new economies of scale. That left the field of bidders to far smaller companies like Koenigsegg and now Spyker.

Turning around Saab would be a huge challenge for Spyker, given G.M&S217;s. inability to turn a profit at the subsidiary as well as Spyker&S217;s lack of experience in mass car manufacturing. Spyker sells 30 to 50 high-performance sports cars a year, which are made to individual order.

&S220;It&S217;s something of a long shot, and I wonder if Spyker has the depth of management to deal with a company the size of Saab,&S221; said Peter Wells, co-director for industry research of the Center for Automotive Research at Cardiff University in Wales. &S220;I don&S217;t think Spyker can float Saab for a significant amount of time,&S221; he said.

The longer Saab&S217;s fate hangs in the balance, he added, the longer the odds of saving it.

&S220;Every day that goes by the brand gets more damaged, especially in the eyes of consumers,&S221; Mr. Wells said. Despite Saab&S217;s famously loyal customer base, he said, &S220;it&S217;s very difficult to recover from that.&S221;

Even if the Spyker bid fails &S212; and other buyers don&S217;t emerge to rescue Saab &S212; G.M. said warranties will still be honored and Saab owners around the world will still be able to find parts and service.

In all, 1,100 dealerships worldwide will be affected, including about 200 in the United States.

Tiny Automaker Renews Saab Offer

LONDON, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- More than 2,000 people were trapped for hours inside the Channel Tunnel after four Eurostar trains broke down due to cold weather, according local news reports on Saturday.

The trains failed as they left the cold air in northern France and entered the warmer tunnel. The trains were coming from Brussels and Paris, and Eurostar said the change in the atmospheric conditions caused a problem with their electrics.

Eurostar said the four trains had been moved from the tunnel and passengers were being transferred to England.

"Four Eurostars broken down at one time -- it's absolutely unprecedented," said a spokesman from Eurotunnel, the operator of the Channel Tunnel.

"There's never actually been an evacuation of a Eurostar train in the 15 years that the tunnel has been opened and last night we evacuated two whole trains to get people off," he said.

Eurostar services have been cancelled until noon Saturday and will be severely disrupted at the weekend easy to get unsecured personal loans.

Heavy snowfall caused travel chaos, forced schools to close and cut off power supplies in parts of Britain on Friday. Meanwhile, more snow and freezing temperatures are expected for parts of Scotland and southeastern and eastern England.

Stranded passengers wait at St Pancras Station in London, capital of Britain, Dec. 19, 2009. More than 2,000 people were trapped for hours inside the Channel Tunnel after four Eurostar trains broke down due to cold weather, according to local news reports on Saturday. Eurostar services have been cancelled until noon Saturday and will be severely disrupted at the weekend. Eurostar said the four trains had been moved from the tunnel and passengers were being transferred to England. (Xinhua/Guo Rui)
Photo Gallery>>>

Cold snap traps four trains in Channel Tunnel

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. financial stocks rose in morning trade, led by gains in select retail investment firms as analysts grew more sanguine about their outlook. T. Rowe Price and Charles Schwab led gainers following an upgrade of both at Deutsche Bank.

On the downside, Citigroup shares fell after news that Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth fund wants out of a commitment to invest more than $7 billion in the firm.

The Financial Select Sector SPDR , which tracks the financial stocks in the S&P 500, added 0.7%.

Shares of Citigroup faced a new challenge Wednesday. Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, the Middle East's largest sovereign wealth fund, is demanding that Citigroup Inc. scrap a deal that would see the fund make a heavy loss on a $7.5 billion investment in the bank.

The fund, controlled by the oil-rich rulers of the Persian Gulf city-state of Abu Dhabi, is seeking more than $4 billion in damages from Citi if the deal to invest in the bank is upheld for what it alleges were "fraudulent misrepresentations" of the original agreement, according to the lender.

The dispute with Abu Dhabi follows Kuwait's decision to sell its stake in Citi. The Kuwait Investment Authority, the Gulf country's sovereign-wealth fund known as the KIA, said this month it sold a $4.1 billion stake in Citigroup Inc., for a $1.1 billion profit. Shares of Citigroup fell about 3% in the early going. Read more about the Abu Dhabi, Citi spat.

Asset manager Franklin Resources also fell. It shed about 1.8% as Deutsche Bank analyst recommended clients sell it and buy rival T. Rowe Price , which rose 1 best auto loan rates.8%.

"While core trends at both firms have been solid, including strong investment performance, healthy relative flows, and significant margin improvement, industry trends have favored Franklin since June, which aided its outperformance versus the sector." The analysts concluded.

"That said," they added, "over the next 12 months, we expect industry trends to begin to favor T. Rowe Price, including improving 401k flows, a pickup in institutional flows, and a gradual shift into equities, which should drive its relative outperformance."

The analysts downgraded Franklin to hold, and upped T. Rowe Price to buy.

Also moving on analyst comments, Charles Schwab shares added 2.1%.

Deutsche Bank analysts upgraded the stock to buy from hold, and raised their price target to $25 from $18.

"Schwab has maneuvered well during the downturn, and while the stock has underperformed due to significant rate pressures, the firm is well-positioned to benefit on multiple fronts (flows, rates, and margins) as conditions improve," Deutsche Bank said in a research note.

The analysts said the call could be premature, but they think the risk is justified since they view estimates at our near "trough levels" and forecast earnings-per-share growth in the range of 60% to 80%, or more, in the next two to three years. They said they expect Schwab to outperform over the next 12 months.

Financial Stocks: Financials mixed as Citi slips on Abu Dhabi claims

Hot News: Market Snapshot: U.S. stocks dip after PPI data; dollar rises

GENEVA (Reuters) – The world&&9;s airlines are set to lose &&6;5.6 billion next year, more than previously estimated, with rising fuel costs offsetting a rebound in both passenger and air cargo, the industry group IATA said on Tuesday.

In its latest outlook, the International Air Transport Association reaffirmed its projection of a &&6;11 billion loss in 2009 -- a year its chief Giovanni Bisignani called "an Annus Horribilis" for the highly cyclical sector.

"The worst is likely behind us," Bisignani said. "For 2010, some key statistics are moving in the right direction."

IATA, whose 230 members include Cathay Pacific (0293.HK), Lufthansa (LHAG.DE), United Airlines (UAUA.O) and Emirates (EMIRA.UL), had previously said the global airline industry would lose &&6;3.8 billion next year.

Renewed consumer confidence should increase the number of people traveling by air next year back to the 2007 peak, Bisignani said. IATA also suggested air cargo volumes would rise quickly in 2010 as businesses rush to replenish their stocks.

"Cargo demand is rising faster than world trade as depleted inventories are rebuilt," it said in a statement. "Once the inventory cycle completes, growth is expected to fall back in line with world trade."

Crude oil prices should reach an average of &&6;75 per barrel in 2010, up from the &&6;61.80 average for 2009, IATA said.

"As a percentage of operating costs, fuel will be 26 percent in 2010. This is considerably lower than the 32 percent of operating costs that fuel comprised in 2008, but twice the 13 percent of operating costs that fuel represented in 2001-2002 pay day advance."

European carriers are on track to generate the largest losses of any region, &&6;2.5 billion, while Asian-Pacific carriers are due to show the most dramatic improvement with losses of &&6;700 million, according to the Geneva-based body.

North American airlines will see their losses shrink to &&6;2 billion, with Latin American carriers the only profitable regional grouping, it said.

Earlier this month IATA said that 75 major airlines reported a combined net profit of &&6;700 million in the third quarter, up from a &&6;3.4 billion loss in that period in 2008.

The darkened IATA outlook for 2010 reflects the experiences of leading carriers and airport operators who have said they are seeing signs the worst may have passed for the global economy, though recovery could come slowly.

Air France-KLM (AIRF.PA) this month said a "more dynamic" cargo sector supported signs of a slow recovery and Deutsche Lufthansa said air freight volumes were continuing to improve.

Passenger numbers at Frankfurt Airport have also risen as a result of higher demand on routes to America and Asia, the operator Fraport (FRAG.DE) said.

(Writing by Laura MacInnis; Editing by Stephanie Nebehay and Jonathan Lynn)

Airline assn raises 2010 sector loss expectations

Filed at 7:57 p.m. ET

TOKYO (AP) -- Business confidence among Japanese companies has improved for the third straight quarter, but not enough to convince them to spend, the central bank said Monday.

In the Bank of Japan's closely watched "tankan" quarterly survey of business sentiment, the main index for large manufacturers stands at minus 24. Three months ago the index stood at minus 33.

The figure represents the percentage of companies saying business conditions are good minus those saying conditions are unfavorable. The result beats Kyodo News agency's average market forecast if minus 27.

The mood has been tempered by the yen's recent climb, which reduces the value of overseas profits for companies like Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE:TM) and Sony Corp. (NYSE:SNE) Companies remain reluctant to restart investing in new factories, equipment or workers, the survey showed.

The yen hit a 14-year high of 84.83 against the dollar on Nov. 27. The dollar has recovered somewhat since then, trading above 89 yen Monday morning saving account payday loan.

Major manufacturers and non-manufacturers reduced their capital spending plans and now expect to cut expenditures by an average 13.8 percent this fiscal year through March 2010.

The sentiment index for big non-manufacturers inched up to minus 22 from minus 24 in September.

Sentiment among medium-sized manufacturers stood at minus 30 from minus 40, while the reading for small manufacturers was up slightly to 40 from minus 52 in September.

The Bank of Japan surveyed a total of 10,116 companies between Nov. 9 and Dec. 11, of which more than 99 percent responded.

The tankan helps the central bank guide monetary policy, though board members are not expected to change the central bank's key interest rate, now at 0.25 percent, for the time being.

Confidence Up at Japanese Manufacturers

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Federal Reserve has done all it can do to reduce unemployment and needs to worry more about the risk of inflation from the stimulus it poured into the economy, former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan said on Sunday.

"I think the Fed has done an extraordinary job and it&&9;s done a huge amount (to bolster employment). There&&9;s just so much monetary policy and the central bank can do. And I think they&&9;ve gone to their limits, at this particular stage," Greenspan said on NBC&&9;s "Meet the Press."

"You cannot ask a central bank to do more than it is capable of without very dire consequences," Greenspan continued, saying the United States faced a serious long-term threat of inflation unless the Fed begins to pull back "all the stimulus it put into the economy."

Greenspan, who headed the central bank from 1987 to 2006, also expressed concern about a congressional effort he said would "very significantly compromise" the Fed&&9;s independence.

The House of Representatives on Friday passed sweeping financial reform legislation that includes a provision allowing a congressional watchdog agency to audit the Fed&&9;s monetary policy operations.

That reflects concerns the Fed did not do enough to head off the worst U.S. economic downturn since the Great Depression easy online payday loans.

"What you will be getting is a monetary policy more dedicated to political short-term considerations, not to the longer-term considerations which the Federal Reserve Act is specifically constructed to do," Greenspan said.

Greenspan said he expected the U.S. unemployment rate, which is currently at 10 percent, to "be significantly lower a year from now" but still very high.

The U.S. Census Bureau&&9;s plan to hire close to 800,000 workers by April will take several tenths of a percent off the unemployment rate, he said.

The recovery in the stock market over the last six to nine months helps by putting many individuals and companies in a stronger position to spend money, he said.

The Federal Reserve will have to begin raising interest rates from current very low levels as both the economy and loan demand improve, he said.

"Remember, loan demand has been very dull because businesses are very heavily liquidating inventories. That&&9;s coming to a halt and when that happens loan demand will come back and the pressures on short-term interest rate will begin to grow," Greenspan said.

(Editing by Doina Chiacu)

Fed can do no more to cut unemployment: Greenspan

ULAN BATOR

A pungent odor like turpentine wafts over the hillsides north of the Mongolian capital. It comes from the sharilj, a wild plant that has taken over the scalloped landscape, a telltale sign of overgrazing since the plant is inedible for sheep and goats.

Sukhtseren Sharav has a herd of 150 goats and 100 sheep, and as they chew their way through everything else, and the sharilj spreads, he must shepherd them ever higher into the mountains to find fresh grazing land.

The lack of foraging terrain is not Mr. Sharav&S217;s only worry. The price for cashmere, the wool made from the fleece of his goats, has plunged 50 percent from last year. The price of flour, his most essential food staple, has more doubled.

These are hard times for Mongolia&S217;s cashmere industry, which provides jobs and income for a third of the country&S217;s population of 2.6 million and supplies about 20 percent of the world&S217;s market for the fluffy, feather-light fiber, prized for its warmth, delicate feel and long wear.

To compensate for low prices, herders have been increasing supply by breeding more goats &S212; a classic vicious circle. Mongolia&S217;s goat population is now approaching 20 million, the highest ever recorded.

Environmentalists and social scientists say this is destroying biodiversity and pastureland, and undermining herding livelihoods. But goats are hardier than other livestock, breed faster and can survive on sparser resources: so, the more the land is degraded, the more herders are driven to switch from cows, camels or other less destructive herds &S212; another vicious circle.

Mixed into the problem is climate change. According to Erdene-Ochir Badarch, environment officer of the World Bank, rainfall on the Mongolian steppe has become increasingly erratic, resulting in the disappearance of 600 Mongolian rivers and 700 lakes. This too may be a chicken-and-egg problem. Increasing aridity and loss of plant species may itself be contributing to the dwindling rains.

In a study funded by the World Bank, Dennis Sheehy, a rancher from Oregon with a doctorate in range management, last year measured two of Mongolia&S217;s four major ecological zones &S212; desert and forest steppe &S212; to determine changes in the composition of species compared with an earlier study made in 1997.

Mr. Sheehy found a 34 percent loss in plant species in the Gobi Desert and about a 30 percent loss in Mongolia&S217;s forest steppe.

&S220;Two conditions have created the loss in species: the proportion of goats in the herd in the last 10 to 12 years, and the areas are becoming increasingly arid,&S221; Mr. Sheehy said. &S220;The plant species that had disappeared were most palatable to all livestock, but especially to goats,&S221; he added. &S220;There are too many of them.&S221;

The problem with goats is not only what they eat. In arid regions, their sharp hooves have been accused by environmentalists of piercing the soil surface, known technically as the cryptobiotic crust, a tangle of gray-brown material composed of fungi, mosses, lichens and bacteria which helps to retain moisture. Once the crust is torn, strong northwesterly winds carry away the sand underneath in dust storms that are contributing to the spread of the desert, according to a 2003 World Bank report.

Still, large parts of Mongolia remain in good shape, notably in the eastern parts of the country, and some researchers, including Andrei Marin, a doctoral student preparing a thesis on climate-change adaptation at the Institute of Geography, part of the University of Bergen in Norway, caution against jumping to conclusions about cause and effect low fee payday loans.

Mr. Marin says the 10-year timetable for Mr. Sheehy&S217;s comparative study may be too short to measure environmental shifts, and a 25-year span would be more meaningful.

The reasons goats are proliferating are as much about nurture as nature, Mr. Marin said by telephone from Bergen. When the country shifted from a planned socialist economy to a market economy and a parliamentary democracy, it largely retreated from supporting the livestock industry, leading herders to increase the size of the goat herd to finance rising expenses, he said.

&S220;Government subsidies for transportation, boarding schools and a hay reserve have disappeared to a large extent,&S221; he said.

Adding some complexity to the debate, land degradation, as a term, lacks a precise and widely accepted definition, and environmentalists urge a note of caution when discussing it.

&S220;There are seven different ways to measure desertification in Mongolia,&S221; said Tony Whitten, a biodiversity specialist with the World Bank in East Asia and the Pacific.

Yet another layer of the problem is the dysfunctionality of Mongolia&S217;s cashmere marketing.

China is the largest buyer of Mongolia&S217;s raw and washed cashmere by far, taking an estimated two-thirds of all exports &S212; one-third legally and one-third smuggled to avoid export taxes.

Facing such a dominant buyer, Mongolian traders tend to get the short end of the bargain even in good times, accepting prices far below market value for high-quality fleeces and passing on the pain to the producers; and in the past year, times have not been good. As the global economic crisis shrank Chinese clothing exports, Chinese cashmere purchases effectively ground to a halt, just as another rain failure was pushing the herders into longer and more expensive migrations in search of grazing land.

&S220;Climate change and globalization interacted to severely curtail the adaptive capacity of the herders,&S221; Mr. Marin said.

Whatever the exact mix of causes, Mr. Sheehy says, the result is the same: a situation that poses a major risk to sustainability, with too many goats, and too much livestock in general.

The total Mongolian livestock herd numbers about 44 million animals, but Mongolia is haunted by the decimation of its herds when four successive years of summer drought, from 1999 to 2002, were followed by cold and snowy winters, killing off 9 million animals &S212; a disaster from which many smaller herders have still not recovered.

&S220;We&S217;re predicting that with any significant drought, the whole livestock pastoral system will crash,&S221; he said. &S220;Especially in central Mongolia, where there is not much resilience &S212; it is on the verge of a breakdown.&S221;

But the solution is easier envisaged than done: reduce livestock numbers, when herders are hard up for cash, and introduce modern market management to a country that has never known it.

&S220;Everyone thinks there are too many goats. But no one does anything about it,&S221; Mr. Sheehy said.

An earlier version of this article said that a study last year of Mongolian ecosystems was funded by Sony. In fact, the study was funded by the World Bank.

Special Report: Business of Green: Pastoralism Unraveling in Mongolia

BEIJING, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- Renault, France's second-largest automaker, is recalling 2,136 units of Koleos series passenger cars in China because of steering defects, said the State Administration of Quality Supervision and Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) Friday.

The company said the product poses a risk of injuries because the securing nut of the steering column on the gearbox may slacken at low speed when steering is turned very far in either direction free credit report and score. This might cause the steering column itself to disconnect, resulting in a loss of steering.

Dealers will conduct detection on the involved vehicles and fasten the securing nut free of charge. The recall will start from December 25.

Renault to recall 2,136 Koleos on steering system defects

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Mining firms weighed on the broader London market on Thursday, as the sector pulled back from early gains to trade lower.

Miners under pressure in midday action in London included Anglo American , down 1.2%, Rio Tinto , down 1.6%, and Xstrata , down 3.2%.

Anglo-Swiss mining giant Xstrata said Thursday that it will increase capital expenditure to $6.8 billion, up from previous guidance of $3.6 billion.

Xstrata said that it has a substantial pipeline of more that $40 billion of organic growth projects. That includes over $8 billion of projects currently in construction and a further $8 billion due for approval within the next twelve months.

It also said that it expects to continue with its growth strategy, in part through making major acquisitions.

Xstrata has made a string of acquisitions since 2001 and most recently tried to buy Anglo American but was rebuffed.

The earlier gains in the sector followed another record for gold futures as the decline in the value of the U.S. dollar continued to attract investors into the precious-metals market. Read more on gold.

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Overall, the U.K. FTSE 100 index declined 0.1% to 5,324.03.

Other European shares were mildly higher and U.S. stock futures were pointing to gains on Wall Street.

Late Wednesday, Bank of America Corp. said that it will repay $45 billion it got from the government after raising $18.8 billion selling new common securities, setting the giant lender on course to wean itself from taxpayer support.

Amid that sign that banking-sector health is improving, European lenders advanced, with Barclays shares up 3.6%, Lloyds Banking Group shares up 3.8% and Royal Bank of Scotland shares up 2.6%.

Elsewhere, airline British Airways shares rose 3%. The airline reports traffic figures later Thursday.

London Markets: Mining-sector decline weighs on British shares

DEERFIELD, Ill. – Drugstore chain Walgreen Co. said its November sales improved, but the results disappointed Wall Street and the company's shares fell in Wednesday trading.

At stores open at least a year, Walgreen said sales rose 3.9 percent. Analysts were expecting greater improvement of 6.1 percent, according to Thomson Reuters. Walgreen said pharmacy revenue was hurt by new launches of low-cost generic drugs, and sales of nonpharmacy items took a hit due to slowing demand for cough, cold and flu products, and further weakness in the economy.

At those stores, pharmacy revenue rose 5.7 percent, and sales of "front end" items like cosmetics and food grew 0.8 percent. Analysts expected pharmacy sales to rise 7.2 percent and front-end sales to rise 3.8 percent.

"The Thanksgiving weekend (was) notably softer" than a year ago, the company said.

In morning trading, Walgreen shares lost $1.68, or 4.3 percent, to $37.69.

Sales at stores open at least one year are considered a key indicator of retailer health because they shows results at older stores, leaving out revenue from newly opened locations payday advance online. Walgreen runs 7,147 drugstores around the U.S., including 517 that were opened in the last year. It also has about 500 worksite health centers, home care facilities, and specialty and mail-order pharmacies.

Walgreen opened 47 stores during the quarter, including seven that were relocated, and acquired two stores.

For November, the company's total revenue grew 8.7 percent to $5.36 billion from $4.93 billion a year ago. Pharmacy sales rose 9.7 percent. Front-end sales increased 6.1 percent.

For the first three months of fiscal 2010, Walgreen said its revenue grew 9.5 percent to $16.36 billion from $14.95 billion. That surpassed analyst expectations of $16.26 billion.

The company is scheduled to report its fiscal first-quarter results on Dec. 21. Analysts are looking for a profit of 48 cents per share, on average.

Walgreen key sales measure rises but misses goals

Hot News: Northrop Could Withdraw From Bidding on Tanker

Bowing to government pressure, Japan&S217;s central bank said Tuesday it would pump short-term funds into the country&S217;s banking system in a renewed bid to kick-start lending and breathe life into the moribund economy.

But the Bank of Japan refused to increase its purchases of government bonds and engage in full-blown &S220;quantitative easing,&S221; as called for by government officials. The measured response raised questions about whether the central bank, reluctant to take orders from politicians on monetary policy, was merely maneuvering to get government officials off its back.

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has repeatedly warned that the return of deflation and a surging currency threaten to wipe out the economic recovery Japan has seen in the last two quarters. The yen climbed to a 14-year high against the dollar last week, dealing a blow to Japan&S217;s many exporters, because a strong yen makes Japanese goods more expensive abroad.

Meanwhile, prices and wages have slumped, raising fears of a prolonged and painful bout of deflation that could drag Japan&S217;s economic growth back into negative territory. The country is still reeling from its deepest recession in decades, brought on by the collapse in world trade that came in the wake of the global economic crisis.

At a hastily called emergency meeting on Tuesday, the Bank of Japan&S217;s board voted to provide &<65;10 trillion, or $115 billion, in short-term loans to commercial banks to bolster liquidity. The loans will carry a fixed interest rate of 0.1 percent and the bank said it would accept commercial paper as well as government and corporate bonds as collateral. The bank kept its key short-term interest rate unchanged at 0.1 percent.

&S220;While Japan&S217;s economy is picking up, there is not yet sufficient momentum to support self-sustaining recovery,&S221; the central bank said in a statement. &S220;The bank has judged that, in supporting the economic recovery from the financial side, it is most effective at present to further spread the strong effects of monetary easing.&S221;

While some analysts questioned how much effect the bank&S217;s move would have on the economy, Mr. Hatoyama said he was satisfied, for now.

&S220;I applaud their efforts to show their resolve to stop deflation and spur the economy,&S221; he told reporters.

The Bank of Japan&S217;s move bucks a nascent trend among monetary authorities around the globe to start scaling back emergency measures like rock-bottom interest rates. The central bank&S217;s moves also show how precarious the recovery of the world&S217;s second-largest economy seems to be.

Australia, whose economy has rebounded rapidly this year, on Tuesday raised interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point for a third straight month. And the U.S. Federal Reserve said Monday it would begin testing a strategy to shrink its trillion-dollar portfolio of mortgage-backed securities and eventually wind down its program to prop up financial markets online cash advance.

Still, Dubai&S217;s announcement last week that its investment arm would delay payments for some of its billions of dollars in debt has led to renewed jitters among some global investors.

Concerns over the financial health of the formerly cash-rich emirate have also sparked a flight to currencies that are considered safe havens, including the yen.

The yen, which declined in early trading Thursday on expectations the central bank would take bold policy steps to counteract the currency&S217;s appreciation, crept up to near 14-year highs after the announcement. Earlier, the Nikkei stock index rallied 2.4 percent on hopes that a respite from the strong yen would help exporters&S217; shares.

The Bank of Japan had initially expressed doubts over the need to inject further liquidity into the economy, pointing to stabilizing consumer prices and falling unemployment as signs of recovery.

But as exporters&S217; stock prices tanked recently, demands from government ministers for action by the central bank reached a fever pitch.

With interest rates already near zero, however, the bank has few options.

By providing a new lending facility, the central bank hopes to pump more money into the nation&S217;s banks to encourage them to increase lending to the troubled corporate sector.

The central bank is eager &S220;to show that any policy change is taken with the initiative of the Bank of Japan, not by political pressure,&S221; Masaaki Kanno, economist at JPMorgan Securities Japan, wrote in a note Tuesday.

Demands by officials for more action from the central bank reflect the government's own lack of options. Saddled with a crippling public debt approaching twice the size of its gross domestic product, Japan has limited room for stimulus.

This week, Mr. Hatoyama is set to announce an extra budget that will greatly exceed an initial estimate given by officials of &<65;2.7 trillion. But much of the package will be a mere reshuffling of programs promised by the previous government, and its effect on the economy is likely to be small, analysts say.

Moreover, Mr. Hatoyama, whose Democratic Party won a landslide victory in elections in August, has promised to slash wasteful public spending. While such a move is popular with the public, cutting public works with the economy so fragile could deal a blow to recovery.

The government is therefore leaning increasingly on the central bank.

&S220;We cannot resolve all our economic woes, especially those in our financial system with short-term fiscal spending,&S221; said Naoto Kan, deputy prime minister and state minister for national strategy. &S220;These two pillars must more closely integrate their actions.&S221;

Japan’s Central Bank Takes New Steps to Lift Economy

Hot News: Manufacturing Improved in November

Filed at 11:31 p.m. ET

NANJING, China (AP) -- Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao says Beijing will keep the value of its currency, the yuan, at a stable and balanced level, shrugging off appeals for faster reforms.

Wen made the comment following a summit Monday with European Union leaders, who are urging China to move more quickly in loosening controls that keep the yuan, also known as the renminbi, linked to the weakening U.S. dollar.

Wen said that ''to maintain the basic stability of the rmb exchange rate is conducive to the economy and the recovery of the world economy low fee payday loans.''

He described as ''unfair'' demands for changes and accused critics of China's policies as ''practicing trade protectionism against developing countries.''

EU Seeks China’s Help on Climate Change and Currency