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| Can Brazil Stop Iran |
| BRAZIL, the saying used to go, is the land of the future and always will be. But when Brazil's president, Dilma Rousseff, visits the White House next week, she will come as the leader of a country whose future has arrived.
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| A MIDDLE EAST PEACE PLAN |
| THERE is so much going on in the Middle East today, it's impossible to capture it all with one opinion. So here are two for the price of one. |
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 | Facebook picks Nasdaq for marquee listing FACEBOOK, preparing what would be Silicon Valley's largest IPO, has picked Nasdaq over the New York Stock Exchange for its listing in a major victory for the technology-laden US bourse, a source familiar with the situation said on Thursday.
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| | US jobless rate drops to 3-year low of 8.2% | | PAYROLLS rose far less than expected in March, keeping the door open for further monetary policy support from the Federal Reserve, even as the unemployment rate fell to a three-year low of 8.2 percent. Employers added 120,000 jobs last month, the Labour Department said on Friday, the smallest increase since October. Economists polled by Reuters had expected nonfarm employment to increase 203,000 and the jobless rate to hold at 8.3 percent. The slowdown in employment growth last month likely reflected the fading boost from unseasonably warm winter weather. It supported the caution on the labour market from Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke last week. Bernanke expressed doubts the recent job gains could be sustained, and March's weak report was in line with expectations that economic growth slowed to an annual pace of 2 percent in the first quarter from the 3 percent rate in the October-December period. "This is going to keep the Fed in easy policy mode. They're going to want to see a step toward 300,000 before they start to think about seeing a stronger outlook for the economy," said Sean Incremona, an economist at 4CAST in New York. S&P 500 stock index futures dropped sharply after the data, while US Treasury debt prices turned higher. The dollar turned lower versus euro. While the unemployment rate fell to its lowest level since January 2009, that was mainly because some people gave up the search for work. The separate household survey, from which the jobless rate is derived also showed a drop in employment. The unemployment rate has fallen from 9.1 percent in August.... |
| | Boeing pulls ahead of Airbus in deliveries in first quarter | | BOEING overtook Airbus in deliveries in the first quarter, setting itself on course to recapture the coveted number one spot in annual aircraft production for the first time since 2002, company data showed this week. European planemaker Airbus said on Friday its deliveries grew 10 percent compared with the first quarter of last year to 131 aircraft. On Thursday, its US competitor Boeing announced first-quarter deliveries of 137 commercial airplanes, up 32 percent from a year earlier. Both planemakers are increasing production of best-selling medium-haul models, the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320, roughly in tandem to record levels in order to tap demand led by Asia. But Boeing has edged in front of its European rival as it also uncorks two models that had encountered major production delays but which came to the market at the end of last year: the 787 Dreamliner and the latest enhanced version of its 747. The catch-up effect is expected to help push Boeing ahead of Airbus in deliveries in 2012 after a nine-year winning streak for Airbus, which is owned by aerospace firm EADS. Boeing delivered six 747-8 stretched jumbos and five of the new carbon-composite Dreamliners. Airbus delivered 4 A380 superjumbos (all in January and February) and started assembling the first A350, its answer to the 787, this week. The first A350 will take shape in its Toulouse factory but is destined to be shaken apart in static ground tests. Assembly of the first flying A350 will start in the summer.
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| | First drop in US strip mall vacancies in nearly 7 years | | THE average vacancy rate at US strip malls fell for the first time in nearly seven years in the first quarter and rents inched up, but it is too early to call a rebound for a sector battered by the housing bust and recession, a report by Reis Inc showed. The real estate research firm said vacancies at large US regional malls continued to decline in the nearabsence of new supply, but consumer spending is not strong enough to lift retail real estate out of its slump. "The tide of the economy is not rising quickly enough to raise all the ships in the ocean of retail," according to the report released on Friday. The retail real estate sector, which includes big regional malls, open-air lifestyle centers, strip malls and power centers that are home to big-box stores, have been among the hardest hit of all types of commercial real estate. At the mercy of consumer spending, these types of real estate have reflected the diverse pressures and changes in consumer spending. Big-box stores, which sell mass-market items like electronics and household goods, have been hit not only by the economic downturn but also by online retailers which compete on price. Recently Best Buy Co Inc said it would close 100 bigbox stores and open 50 smaller ones focused on mobile phones. "They're going to be smaller and crop up in malls and neighborhood community stores," Reis senior economist Ryan Severino said. During the first quarter, the national vacancy rate for strip malls fell to 10.9 percent from 11 percent the prior quarter, according to preliminary figures from Reis.
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