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

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

CHICAGO (MarketWatch) -- After months of paying off debt, some Americans pulled out their credit cards and started charging in October, according to data from two credit tracking firms. The data suggest consumption habits don't ever really die, especially when the busiest shopping season of the year is at hand.

Synovate Mail Monitor and Credit Karma both said that average credit-card balances increased as consumers added new purchases. But Synovate also said that credit-card consolidation contributed to higher average balances.

The most recent government figures for consumers' use of credit are from September, when the Federal Reserve said outstanding consumer credit fell at a 7.2% annual rate, the eighth straight month of declines.

How much do you pay for your 401(k)?

Few investors know what they're paying in administrative and other fees for their 401(k), but there are ways to find out, says Ryan Alfred, president of BrightScope, a retirement-plan ratings and research firm. MarketWatch's Andrea Coombes reports.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Commerce Department said Monday that October sales increased more than expected, thanks mostly to an appetite for new cars, but also due to consumers buying a variety of other goods.

"It's silly to expect people to have a complete change in the model of how they buy things forever -- and especially in the holiday season," said John Ulzheimer, president of consumer education for Credit.com.

Synovate Mail Monitor, which tracks credit-card acquisition volume and response rates throughout the U.S., saw average balances edge up about 8% to $8,083 in the third quarter, from $7,489 in the second.

CreditKarma.com, a consumer research and credit-score site that follows a smaller percentage of cards, saw a bigger jump in card usage in October, with the average consumer carrying $7,573 of credit-card debt, a 14% increase from $6,641 a month earlier.

The holidays typically account for some 40% of spending at national retail stores with most shopping done in the four to six weeks before Dec. 25. But this year, Christmas came sooner as retailers began promotions and discounts as early as July.

"The seasonal aspect can be pretty strong," said Ken Lin, founder of Credit Karma. "Consumer spending is so much higher in the fourth quarter than any other quarter of the year."

Tighter limits also push balances higher

Anuj Shahani, director of competitive tracking services for Synovate, agrees that consumers are spending a little more but said the bigger impact on balances is a result of fewer cards and tighter credit limits in force payday loan lenders.

By Synovate's estimation, the average number of credit cards per household slipped to 2.8 in the third quarter from three in the first quarter. Many consumers saw their credit limits slashed, so some transferred their charging to one or two main cards. Consequently, the average balances went up.

Of course, one month does not make a trend. But if Americans' love affair with their credit cards is reheated, the eight months of steadfastly paying down debt may turn out to be nothing more than a temporary hiatus from credit cards.

"I don't see many people staying on the wagon and completely giving up credit cards permanently," said Credit.com's Ulzheimer. "As much as it pains me to say this, the best vehicle for buying things on a convenience basis is a credit card."

Sales rise in some sectors

There's no question that the consumer is still gun-shy about spending, despite the 1.4% rise in U.S. retail sales last month. The Commerce Dept. said a chunk of those sales were fueled by new demand in autos, rebounding from the post "cash for clunkers" stimulus crash.

Housing-related merchandise sales were sharply lower and electronic and appliance sales slipped, as did sporting goods and hobby sales.

But restaurant and bar sales, mail order and Internet purchases, and general merchandise sales got a boost -- all indicating that consumers were more flexible in their spending than they've been for most of the year.

What's troubling, however, is that last month also saw a slowdown in the number of credit-card defaults at a time when delinquencies -- mostly those 30 days or more late -- were on the rise. (Defaults, however, are still at high levels at the largest credit-card issuers.)

Delinquencies can be a harbinger of future losses and tend to lag default rates by three to six months. "It doesn't make any sense that delinquency rates are going up and default rates going down," Ulzheimer said. "There may be another wave of defaults coming."

Credit-card balances rise as holidays approach

NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Hewlett-Packard Co (HPQ.N) struck a deal to buy network equipment maker 3Com Corp (COMS.O) for &&6;2.7 billion to step up competition against Cisco Systems Inc (CSCO.O) and expand into China.

HP said it would pay &&6;7.90 per share for 3Com, or a premium of 39 percent over its Wednesday closing price on Nasdaq.

The move comes amid a flurry of acquisitions by Cisco and other technology vendors trying to broaden their product portfolios and provide a one-stop shop for computing, networking and storage equipment.

"It gives HP additional scale within the low-to-mid tier wireless and networking market. It matches up with HP&&9;s switches that compete with Cisco," said Shannon Cross at Cross Research.

3Com, which has a large presence in China, has been pushing into the large enterprise market outside that country with its H3C brand, trying to take on giants like Cisco.

The company has been an acquisition target before. In 2008, Bain Capital Partners and China&&9;s Huawei Technologies (HWT.UL) tried to buy 3Com for &&6;2.2 billion but failed to win approval from a U.S. government security panel bad credit cash loan. Huawei is a privately held company set up by a former Chinese army officer.

Analysts said that by buying 3Com, HP will be competing head to head with Cisco in the networking equipment market. Cisco recently entered the server market, where HP is strong.

"HP has started to find success competing in the communication space. It has been competing with Cisco. To that degree, this is also something in that category," said Lou Miscioscia, analyst at Brigantine Advisors.

The terms of the deal were approved by the HP and 3Com boards of directors, but needs shareholder approval. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2010.

HP also reported preliminary quarterly profit and revenue that beat analysts&&9; expectations, and raised its outlook for fiscal 2010.

3Com shares jumped 35 percent to &&6;7.66 in after-hours trading. HP shares edged 0.4 percent lower to &&6;49.80.

(Reporting by Sinead Carew, Ritsuko Ando and Gabriel Madway; Editing by Carol Bishopric, Bernard Orr)

HP to buy 3Com for $2.7 billion

Hot News: Macys Q4 forecast disappoints; shares fall

(Reuters) – U.S. companies hurt by the global credit crisis are continuing to hold more cash, even as the economy begins to show signs of improvement, the Wall Street Journal said, citing its analysis of company filings.

In the second quarter, the 500 largest non-financial U.S. companies by total assets held about &&6;994 billion in cash and short-term investments, or 9.8 percent of their assets, according to the paper&&9;s analysis of corporate filings.

In contrast, the companies held &&6;846 billion, or 7.9 percent of assets, a year ago, the paper said.

The trend seems to have continued in the third quarter, despite an improving economy, the paper said faxless payday advance.

The 248 companies that have reported third-quarter results so far saw their cash holdings go up by a percentage point sequentially to 11.1 percent of assets, the paper said.

Companies such as Alcoa Inc (AA.N), Google Inc (GOOG.O), PepsiCo Inc (PEP.N) and Texas Instruments Inc (TXN.N) reported big third-quarter increases in cash holdings, the paper said.

(Reporting by Sakthi Prasad in Bangalore; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)

U.S. companies holding more cash: report

WASHINGTON (AP) &<51; A politically connected financial firm and two of its executives were indicted Thursday for what prosecutors say was a bid-rigging scheme in the municipal bond business.

The charges in the nine-count indictment filed Thursday in Manhattan federal court against CDR Financial Products are the first resulting from the Justice Department&S217;s inquiry of the municipal bonds industry. CDR, based in Beverly Hills, Calif., has also come under scrutiny for its ties to Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico.

The indictment accuses two CDR executives and one former executive from the firm of engaging in bid-rigging conspiracies in which CDR was hired by public entities that issue municipal bonds to act as their broker and conduct a supposedly competitive bidding process.

&S220;This case is fundamentally about collusion, the illegal rigging of a purportedly competitive bidding process,&S221; said Joseph Demarest, head of the FBI&S217;s New York office.

The result of the scam, Mr. Demarest said, was less money for the states, cities and counties that hired CDR.

CDR is also known as Rubin/Chambers, Dunhill Insurance Services Inc.

Prosecutors said that CDR&S217;s company&S217;s owner and president, David Rubin, vice president Evan Zarefksy and former chief financial officer Zevi Wolmark took part in two wire fraud schemes. The three are also charged with obstructing the Internal Revenue Service faxless pay day loans.

Because such bonds are tax-exempt, the competitive bidding process is regulated by the I.R.S.

Prosecutors said the company secretly manipulated the bidding process to enrich themselves and the bidding companies at the expense of the municipalities, the I.R.S. or both.

Under the scheme, CDR would arrange in advance which company would win a particular bid for bond business and arrange kickbacks to CDR in the form of inflated fees, authorities said.

In one 2006 state bond deal, one of the bidders agreed to pay CDR a $475,000 kickback, according to the indictment.

The municipal bond business is huge: In 2007 and 2008, about $800 billion worth of municipal bonds were issued across the country.

If convicted of the most serious charge against them, the three men face a maximum prison sentence of 20 years.

Mr. Rubin&S217;s lawyer Donald Etra said the government had &S220;no basis&S221; for the charges.

&S220;The bottom line is that David Rubin has done nothing wrong,&S221; Mr. Etra said. &S220;He&S217;s a brilliant businessman and a prominent philanthropist.&S221;

Lawyers for the other two men could not immediately be located.

3 Accused of Bid-Rigging in Municipal Bonds Sales

OTTAWA &<51; When English-speaking Canadians watch the television news, most of them choose among the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, CTV or Global Television. But the prime minister, Stephen Harper, said in a speech last week that he preferred another choice: American news.

&S220;I don&S217;t like to watch Canadian news,&S221; Mr. Harper told the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Toronto on Wednesday, adding that he doesn&S217;t like to see himself analyzed. &S220;So my hobby is to watch politics elsewhere.&S221;

Of course, a statement like that plays into Canada&S217;s inferiority complex. While some people, including other members of the Conservative Party, suggested later that Mr. Harper might have been joking, his spokesman, Dimitri Soudas, confirmed that the prime minister avoided Canadian news broadcasts, but not all Canadian programming.

&S220;He definitely enjoys watching a good hockey game,&S221; Mr. Soudas said.

&S220;It&S217;s completely bizarre,&S221; said Bob Rae, a prominent member of Parliament for the opposition Liberal Party. &S220;Imagine if Sarkozy said: &S216;I don&S217;t watch the French news, just the BBC&S217; or Obama said he only watches Canadian news.&S221;

Peter Mansbridge, host of the CBC&S217;s flagship news program, &S220;The National,&S221; noted that a past prime minister, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, used to say he avoided Canadian media &S220;because he didn&S217;t care what they said free credit reports.&S221;

Nevertheless, Mr. Mansbridge seemed a little baffled.

&S220;It&S217;s a strange signal to send to the public at a time when Canadian networks, aside from covering this country, which U.S. networks don&S217;t, also spend considerable resources, and some of their correspondents literally risk their lives, to bring the Canadian perspective on international stories home from places that some U.S. networks ignore,&S221; Mr. Mansbridge wrote in an e-mail message.

Still, there is one regular viewer inside the official residence. Mr. Mansbridge said that Laureen Harper, the prime minister&S217;s wife, has told &S220;The National&S221; not only that she is a viewer but also that she &S220;even downloads the podcast of our regular Thursday night political panel and then often briefs her husband on what was discussed.&S221;

For News, Canada’s Leader Looks South of the Border

One of the biggest costs of Beijing's rapid economic development has been the destruction of many of the city's old courtyard houses, which line the once numerous alleys known as hutongs. The crux of the problem is how to preserve the old buildings and, at the same time, bring them and the rest of the city, into the 21st century. One of China's most famous up-and-coming architects, has devised a striking solution.Zhang Wei says he was shocked when he first saw the structureZhang Wei spends his life working to preserve the folklore and traditions of old Beijing. He was not sure what to expect when he went to see what had been done to modernize a courtyard house in the city center."I was shocked by it," Zhang said. "When I first walked in, I couldn't figure out what that shiny thing was. It looks like an egg. It also looks like a water drop. It's really beautiful."The surprising addition that put a smile on his face is a large silver bubble that looks like a drop of liquid mercury, oozing over the corner of the traditional courtyard house.Bubble structure is being used commercially to sell wine and antiquesThe bubble's highly-polished metal surface reflects the trees and its edges disappear into the sky. The space is being used commercially as a shop to sell wine and antique furniture. The bubble conceals the staircase to the rooftop deck. Also hidden inside is a modern necessity not available in traditional courtyard homes - a toilet. The architect, Ma Yansong, is better known as the winner of a high-profile international competition to design a 56-story residential building in Canada payday loan online. Due to be completed next year, Ma calls his design the "Absolute Tower". But it has been nicknamed the "Marilyn Monroe Tower" because of its swirling shape.While on the verge of being famous internationally, Ma's grand beautification plans for his hometown, Beijing, are much closer to his heart.Ma Yansong won a high-profile international competition to design a residential building in Canada"This is Tiananmen Square. This is the square, this is the Forbidden City and this is the Congress building and the national museum. So, we basically covered the whole concrete plaza with trees," Ma explained.Covering Tiananmen Square with trees, or building huge floating gardens in downtown Beijing, is not likely to happen any time soon. But Ma is at least pleased with the bubble in the hutong."We basically make a new space. It looks like a silver, liquid thing. It looks very futuristic," Ma explained. "It looks absolutely not [like] the old building, but it's attached to the old building, and forms a new courtyard."Wang Xiaolin applauds the effort for its innovative flairOne of the house's main tenants, Wang Xiaolin, applauds that effort."I think preservation also needs innovation," Wang said. "So, I think what we are doing here is preservation and innovation. I think after a few years, other people will realize it too. Just imagine - in old Beijing hutongs, you can randomly see some buildings like this. Wouldn't that be great?"

Futuristic Addition Adorns Traditional Beijing Courtyard Home

NEW YORK &S212; Digital-era icons like Google and Twitter have made life more efficient &S212; and fun. But they also guzzle vast amounts of energy.

Scattered around the world are scores of data centers that sift through the endless streams of information that keep the Internet and office computers running. In the United States alone, those data centers accounted for 1.5 percent of the country&S217;s electricity use in 2006 &S212; more than the entire state of Massachusetts. And their power use could nearly double over five years, according to government reports.

Experts say that data centers present an obvious opportunity to improve efficiency.

&S220;It&S217;s becoming a big deal,&S221; said Dale Sartor, an energy efficiency expert at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory near San Francisco. He noted that in some cases, the energy costs of a server over its useful life of three or four years exceeded the initial cost of the server itself.

Some of the largest opportunities lie in the way data centers are kept cool. The buildings &S212; many of which are enormous &S212; must typically be kept below 80 degrees Fahrenheit (26.7 Celsius), so that the chips work at maximum efficiency. And that requires a great deal of energy.

The cooling equipment alone can consume 25 percent of the power that goes into a data center, said Christian Belady, an efficiency specialist at Microsoft. &S220;So if there&S217;s anything we can do to eliminate that, right there we use 25 percent less power.&S221;

Companies are innovating in this area, not least by using a tool that is ancient and free: the weather. Last month, Microsoft opened a data storage center in Dublin, which it said would take advantage of the Irish chill to achieve greater efficiencies. The system brings in air via large, high-up ducts that are controlled by valves, so it works somewhat like an attic fan, Mr. Belady said.

Nonetheless, he said, the company has backup systems in case the temperature spikes or the air is smoky.

Other Internet giants are making similar moves. In June, Yahoo announced that it would locate a data center in Buffalo, New York, to take advantage of the &S220;micro-climate&S221; to cool the servers entirely with outside air. And Google has a data center in Belgium where, according to Niki Fenwick, a spokeswoman, &S220;the local climate allows us to efficiently cool the data center without needing to use electricity to power chillers.&S221;

She noted, however, that &S220;not all Google data centers can be located in cold climates, because we want our tools to be as fast as possible.&S221; (In other words, the transmission of data can slow down over long distances.)

A number of companies, including Microsoft, Yahoo and Deutsche Telekom&S217;s T-Systems, are also locating their data centers near hydroelectric plants, allowing them to play up the virtues of renewable power (though hydropower is often less expensive than conventional power, at least in the United States, so there is a bottom-line reason too).

Traditionally, many data centers have been designed &S220;like a vault,&S221; according to Andres Carvallo, the chief information officer for Austin Energy, a utility in the heart of Texas&S217;s high-tech &S220;Silicon Hills&S221; that runs a rebate program to encourage companies to buy more efficient data center equipment no credit check payday loan. In other words, he explained, they had no access to the outside air.

That is changing. &S220;There&S217;s certainly a renaissance around designing a data center,&S221; Mr. Carvallo said.

Companies are indeed innovating. In Uitikon, Switzerland, I.B.M. is using the waste heat from a data center to keep a swimming pool warm.

Mr. Belady of Microsoft said that his company was pushing its suppliers to build servers that could work in higher temperatures &S212; up to 95 degrees Fahrenheit (35 Celsius) &S212; allowing Microsoft to build systems that use the outside air closer to the Equator.

Mr. Belady also emphasized the importance of pushing companies to measure the effectiveness of their power or energy usage, so that they could understand how much power or energy actually makes it to the number-crunching equipment, rather than going toward cooling or other auxiliary uses. Today, only about 10 percent of data center operators make such measurements, he estimated.

There is also innovation surrounding the management of the power supply to the chips, which goes through a number of transformations, said Mr. Sartor of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. For example, he said, interruptible power supplies can often be bypassed, thus avoiding losses associated with converting power from alternating current to direct current and back to alternating current. In this regard, &S220;Europeans, like so many areas of efficiency, are typically ahead&S221; of the United States, he said.

Meanwhile, the need for more computations continues to grow. Mr. Sartor cited an example in his backyard: Whereas earlier this decade a supercomputer at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory used a few hundred kilowatts of power, its needs are projected to grow to 17 megawatts over the coming years.

&S220;We&S217;re talking about tens of millions of dollars to power our new supercomputer facility, and that starts catching management&S217;s concern,&S221; he said.

&S220;We are dramatically improving the efficiency of computation. The situation is that our appetite for computation is going up way faster than the efficiency is going up.&S221;

One piece of good news is that cooperation has increased in recent years among companies eager to tackle the data center efficiency problem. A number of cross-company consortiums, like the Green Grid, have sprung up (a symposium is being held this week in the Silicon Valley to discuss data center efficiency, with participation from several large multinational companies).

&S220;Everybody recognizes that we have to drive efficiency as an industry, not just as individuals,&S221; said Mr. Belady of Microsoft.

Green Inc. Column: Seeking Energy Savings at the Heart of the Internet

CHICAGO, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) -- A U.S. bankruptcy judge on Thursday approved the sale of Sun-Times Media Group to a group of Chicago businessmen led by James Tyree.

According to sources of Sun-Times Media Group, the sale is expected to close by the end of October.

Tyree's group, STMG Holdings LLC, offered about 25 million U.S. dollars, 5 million dollars in cash and about 20 million dollars in liabilities, to purchase the publisher of the Chicago Sun-Times and its 50-plus sister papers.

The bid came with a request for steep pay cuts and other concessions from 16 unions, 14 of which have approved the contract changes online cash advances.

The closing remains contingent upon approvals by the two other bargaining units, which are expected to be reached in the coming days, the company said.

"We're very pleased and very excited with this result," said Sun-Times Media Group interim CEO Jeremy Halbreich. "It could not have happened without the dedication and hard work of our employees."

Bankruptcy judge approves Sun-Times Media sale to Tyree group

PARIS &S212; Britain's antitrust regulator said Thursday that it would oppose the planned merger of Ticketmaster and Live Nation, warning that the consolidation of two major players in entertainment in the United States and Europe could lead to higher concert ticket prices and less competition.

When the ticketing agent and concert promoter, both based in California, announced in February that they aimed to unite, the proposal immediately raised antitrust worries in the United States and in other countries.

Together, the two companies would be a player with even greater global reach and estimated annual revenue of about $6 billion. Ticketmaster distributes tickets through thousands of retail outlets all over the world, as well as online. Live Nation is the largest concert producer in the world, and the company says it sells 45 million tickets a year.

Britain's Competition Commission, an independent public agency, said in a statement Thursday that "the merger could severely inhibit the entry of a major new competitor" and result in higher prices for consumers.

The agency noted that the proposed merger would jeopardize an existing agreement between Live Nation and CTS Eventim, a ticketing and live entertainment company based in Germany.

The commission said it expected to issue a final decision on Nov. 24.

John Park, a spokesman for the agency, said that "final decisions usually reflect the provisional. At this point we have a thorough assessment easy fast payday loans."

He added, however, that there were a number of potential remedies that might allow a deal to proceed.

"One option would require Live Nation to use CTS for a portion of its business," he said. "Another is a potential divestment" of all or part of Live Nation's or Ticketmaster's operations in Britain, he said.

In response, Ticketmaster and Live Nation said that they would cooperate with the commission and that they remained committed to the merger. They argued that the deal would be in the public interest.

"We believe this merger will build a more efficient and effective company moving forward," the companies said, "and that working together we will be able to help achieve needed change that will strengthen a flagging music industry."

The two companies' willingness to make concessions will be key to whether or not the deal goes through, but a Ticketmaster spokeswoman declined to comment on their strategy.

The proposed merger is still being reviewed by the Justice Department.

Ticketmaster has said before that it does not set ticket prices and leaves those decisions to the artists. However, the company owns a controlling stake in a major artist management firm, Front Line Management.

CTS saw its shares rise 2.16 percent to 32.69 euros in midday trading.

British Regulator Objects to Ticketmaster Merger

BEIJING (Reuters) – A Goldman Sachs Group private equity fund is investing about &&6;250 million in Chinese carmaker Geely Automobile (0175.HK), a move that could free up capital for Geely&&9;s parent to bid on Ford&&9;s (F.N) Volvo unit, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing an unidentified source.

Goldman Sachs Capital Partners&&9; purchase of Geely convertible bonds and warrants would give it an unspecified minority stake in the carmaker, an investment that would be announced on Monday, the newspaper reported, citing a Geely executive cash advance america.

Goldman Sachs and Geely officials on Sunday were not immediately available to comment on the report. Geely said earlier this month that its parent was considering a bid for Volvo with a local government-backed investment firm.

(1&&6;=6.83 yuan)

(Reporting by Kirby Chien, Editing by Dean Yates)

Goldman Sachs fund to invest $250 million in Geely: report

HONG KONG (Reuters) – Asian stocks edged up on Tuesday, with markets in South Korea and Taiwan closing at 14-month highs, as investors put their faith in the global economic recovery and looked past a trade spat between the United States and China.

European shares opened slightly higher, with futures on the Dow Jones Euro Stoxx 50 up 0.4 percent.

The technology and exporter sectors were the biggest gainers on a day without a major theme driving the markets in Asia. LG Electronics (066570.KS), the world&&9;s No. 3 handset maker, jumped more than 3 percent in Seoul to snap a weeklong slide.

"Investors want to know if the U.S. economy is ready for a turnaround without government help and how consumers are faring," said Kim Young-june, a market analyst at SK Securities in Seoul, before U.S. retail sales data is released later.

The Nikkei average (.N225) rose 0.2 percent as companies such as Canon Inc (7751.T) bounced back from a slide sparked by the yen&&9;s jump to a seven-month high against the dollar, which took the Japanese currency into territory seen as damaging to exporter earnings.

The yen slipped beyond 91 per dollar, providing some relief to investors worried that sustained gains would prove a serious obstacle to Japan Inc&&9;s gradual recovery this year.

While officials in the outgoing Japanese government voiced concern about the yen&&9;s rise, the former finance minister tipped to again take the helm of the ministry -- Hirohisa Fujii -- has said Japan should not intervene in markets.

"Market participants speculate Fujii may be more tolerant of a stronger yen and reluctant about intervening in the forex market," said Makoto Yamashita, chief Japan interest rate strategist at Deutsche Securities in Tokyo.

Japan has racked up foreign reserves totaling more than &&6;1 trillion, second only to China&&9;s, from its previous bouts of yen-selling intervention.

But Japan has stayed out of the market since 2004, even during last year&&9;s violent yen surge as leveraged carry trades were unwound. The lack of action has stirred questions about whether Tokyo has already adopted a more hands-off currency policy.

Trading activity was limited during the day because Hong Kong&&9;s financial markets were closed for the morning as Typhoon Koppu swept through the city. The Hong Kong bourse was set to open for the afternoon session.

Taiwan&&9;s TAIEX (.TWII) outperformed the region, climbing 1.2 percent to a 14-month high on hopes that the launch of Microsoft&&9;s Windows 7 will boost demand for PC makers such as Asustek (2357 payday loan.TW).

Seoul&&9;s KOSPI (.KS11) rose 1.1 percent, with financial shares such as Shinhan Financial Group (055550.KS) leading gains.

The MSCI index of Asia-Pacific shares (.MIAPJ0000PUS) was up 0.9 percent, recouping some of the previous day&&9;s losses and hovering just below a one-year peak struck last week. For the year, the MSCI benchmark for Asia is still up about 53 percent.

On Monday, the U.S. S&P 500 (.SPX) edged up 0.6 percent and reached its highest levels of 2009 after a slew of merger activity suggested big investors still see value in the market following this year&&9;s rebound.

Optimism about potential deals overshadowed concerns about trade friction between the United States and China after Washington imposed special duties on Chinese tire imports.

China unveiled data on Tuesday showing that tire exports fell in the first half of a year to rebut Washington&&9;s accusation it was flooding the U.S. market, even as both countries moved to allay concerns about a trade war.

The battered U.S. dollar edged down in Asia, falling back toward a one-year low touched on Friday. The dollar index (.DXY), a gauge of its performance against six major currencies, was down 0.1 percent at 76.596.

The pound helped drag the dollar lower, rising 0.4 percent to &&6;1.6640 after a report showing house prices in England and Wales rose for the first time in two years in August.

Against the yen, the dollar edged up 0.2 percent to 91.10 yen, pulling up from the seven-month low of 90.18 yen hit on Monday. The euro dipped 0.1 percent to &&6;1.4615 but hovered near a nine-month high.

The Australian dollar slipped after the country&&9;s central bank felt the economy was substantially stronger than expected at this month&&9;s policy meeting but decided there was enough uncertainty over the outlook to argue against a rate hike, according to meeting minutes.

The Aussie dipped 0.2 percent to &&6;0.8604, just below a one-year high.

Safe-haven government bonds lost ground as stock markets stabilised. The benchmark 10-year Japanese government bond yield edged up 2 basis points to 1.310 percent, holding in a range between 1.285 percent and 1.355 percent over the past few weeks.

South Korea and Taiwan shares hit 14-month highs

Hot News: Tire Tariffs Are Cheered by Labor

The United States stock market has just completed its best six months since 1933. From March 9 to Sept. 9, the Standard &&8; Poor&S217;s 500-stock index leaped by 53 percent.

But the gain over that period, which began when stocks reached their nadir in March, was not enough to offset the losses recorded in the previous six months. Not since 1932 had the market suffered a half-year period as bad as that one.

Investors clearly found it difficult to determine whether the Great Recession would turn into Great Depression II.

Amazingly, however, the American stock market was one of the least volatile markets in the world in the last year. It was among the best markets when it was plunging, and among the worst when it was soaring. Over all, it ranked near the bottom among international markets.

Whatever else you might want to say about the virtues of international diversification, in this cycle it has done little to balance the risks of investing in any one market. When the markets went down, they nearly all went down. When the markets rose, they soared together.

If history is a guide, the strong recovery may be an indication that better prices are still ahead. Since World War II, there have been eight periods before the current market when the S.&&8; P. 500 managed to rise at least 30 percent over a half-year period &<51; in 1963, 1971, 1975, 1980, 1982-83, 1991, 1997 and 1999. A year later, the index had made further gains in seven of them.

The exception was 1980, when the economy went into a double-dip recession and dashed the hopes of investors who had bet on a continued rise in stock prices.

Before that, the record was less impressive. Soaring prices in 1929 presaged the Great Depression, and a sharp rebound in 1930 proved to be a suckers&S217; rally. But big gains in 1932-33 and 1935 were followed by additional gains. Prices were little changed a year after large gains in 1938 and 1943.

The accompanying graphic demonstrates the truth of an old adage: If you lose 50 percent of your money, and then gain 50 percent, you have not come close to breaking even.

Italy provides one of the best examples of that. Over the six-month period ending on Wednesday, the FTSE/MIB index of Italian stocks rose 81 percent in euros payday loans. With the euro also strong against the dollar during that period, the Italian index more than doubled, rising 109 percent from the perspective of a dollar-based investor.

But an investor who put money in the Italian stock market exactly one year before, on Sept. 9, 2008, suffered a decline of 55 percent in euros, or 60 percent in dollars, during the next six months. The Italian market, like the American market, hit bottom on March 9 of this year.

The net impact: For the 12 months, the Italian market was down 17 percent, whether measured in euros or in dollars.

The accompanying graphic shows the performance of major stock market indexes in each of the 19 countries in the Group of 20, as well as of a European-wide index that is shown because the European Union is the final member of the Group of 20, whose leaders will meet later this month in Pittsburgh, to discuss efforts to fight the world financial crisis.

For the entire year, the best performances were turned in by emerging markets, which are back in favor with investors hopeful of a resumption of global growth. China, whose market had plunged earlier than most, was the only one to rise during the six-month period through March 9, and was the best performer for the entire year. Brazil, Indonesia and South Africa also showed gains for the 12 months, while the Indian market broke even and the South Korean market nearly did the same.

For the entire year, the largest declines were in Saudi Arabia and Russia, oil producers that suffered from lower oil prices brought on by the global slowdown.

The similarity in international performance can also be seen within markets. During the most recent six months, the three best-performing sectors in the S.&&8; P. 500, and in the S.&&8; P. Europe 350, were financials, industrials and materials. During the previous six months, they were the worst-performing sectors in both indexes.

Floyd Norris comments on finance and economics in his blog at nytimes.com/norris.

Off the Charts: Globally, It’s Markets See, Markets Do

The Chinese Ministry of Finance said Tuesday that it would issue 6 billion yuan worth of government bonds in Hong Kong, a major step to internationalize its currency at a time of concern about the dollar.

The yuan bond issue, worth about $879 million, will &S220;promote the RMB in neighboring countries,&S221; the Finance Ministry said on its Web site &S212; referring to the overall name of the Chinese currency, the renminbi &S212; &S220;and improve the yuan&S217;s international status.&S221;

&S220;The first step toward internationalization is regionalization,&S221; Shi Lei, a foreign currency analyst at Bank of China in Beijing, said in an interview. &S220;China wants to develop the offshore market in Hong Kong.&S221;

While domestic banks like Bank of China and the Export-Import Bank of China have issued yuan-denominated bonds in Hong Kong for a couple of years at the encouragement of Beijing, this is the first time that government bonds, the equivalent of U.S. Treasury securities, are to be issued. The sale is set for Sept. 28.

In July, the People&S217;s Bank of China started a program for local companies to settle trade in yuan, but it has so far spurred little trade.

Zhi Ming Zhang, an analyst at HSBC in Hong Kong, said the government bond issue might show foreign investors they could rely on the yuan.

&S220;If I&S217;m doing trade with China, where am I going to park this money?&S221; Mr. Zhi asked, referring to the yuan. The yuan-bond market needs security and liquidity to make such settlements attractive, he said, and government bonds will provide some security as well as a pricing benchmark instant payday loans.

Experts estimate that China holds about 75 percent of its $2 trillion in foreign reserves in dollar-denominated assets, but since the global financial crisis, that position has made Beijing uneasy. Since the beginning of 2007, the dollar has slipped more than 20 percent against the yen, and more than 12 percent against the yuan, and investors are concerned as the United States continues to pile up debt to finance its massive stimulus package.

In March, China&S217;s prime minister, Wen Jiabao, expressed concern about the dollar&S217;s slide and encouraged the United States to ensure its stability.

While the bond issue announced Tuesday is a step toward making the yuan a global currency, the size of the sale is small compared with those of bonds like Treasury securities, and the time it will take to establish the yuan internationally remains uncertain.

&S220;There is no timetable,&S221; said Mr. Shi, the Bank of China analyst, adding that developing the market would take &S220;at least three to five years.&S221;

In another move to make the yuan accessible to investors, BOC Suisse Fund Management, Bank of China&S217;s asset-management arm based in Geneva, said Friday that it had received approval from the Swiss financial regulator to create a new set of funds, nearly half of them denominated in the Chinese currency.

China to Issue Yuan-Denominated Bonds in Hong Kong