Credit Derivatives Market Shrinks Amid Crisis, BIS Report Says 
Dec. 6 (Bloomberg) -- The market for credit derivativesshrank in the first half of 2009 as the worst financial crisissince the 1930s stifled trading and dealers canceled overlappingcontracts, according to the Bank for International Settlements.
The amount of credit-default swaps protecting investorsagainst losses on bonds and loans fell 14 percent to cover anotional $36 trillion of debt in the six months to June 30, theBasel, Switzerland-based bank said today. The broader market forover-the-counter derivatives grew, according to the report.
Investors shunned credit derivatives in the first quarterafter the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and thebailout of American International Group Inc. fueled concerncounterparties wouldn’t honor trades. The market also contractedafter new rules made it easier to tear up offsetting contractsand settle trades through clearinghouses.
Comcast and NBC: Stay tuned for answers
What script will the $30 billion deal that Comcast announced last week to take over NBC Universal follow?
Will this be a sequel to the dot-com disaster flick that was AOL Time Warner, a "Citizen Kane"-esque tragedy of hubris and overreach, or a creative remake of the TV business as we've known it? The Philadelphia cable giant's words and actions leave room for interpretation.
The market power involved -- Comcast brags that it's the biggest provider of TV service and home Internet access in the United States -- rule out treating this union as just another corporate coupling. The combination of its distribution and NBC Universal's broadcast programming, TV stations (including the District's WRC), cable channels, movie studio and 4,000-title film library would be unmatched in the media industry.
Venezuela Widens Purge Of Bankers With New Arrest
Filed at 2:46 p.m. ET
CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela on Sunday widened a police sweep against executives from seven troubled banks shut down despite their links with top government officials -- a move likely to win support for leftist President Hugo Chavez.
Police arrested the director of the Banco Real, Giuzel Mileira, bringing to six the number of bankers in custody.
Kuwait sells Citigroup stake for $4.1 billion
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Kuwait's sovereign wealth fund said Sunday it booked a profit of $1.1 billion by selling the stake it took in Citigroup Inc. less than two years ago when the banking giant was strapped for cash.
The Kuwait Investment Authority said in a statement it sold the preferred shares after converting them to common stock for $4.1 billion. That works out to a gain of nearly 37 percent on its $3 billion investment.
Calls to the Kuwait fund for further details went unanswered. A Citi spokesman declined to comment.
China Lending Boom May Hamper Banks' Asset Quality, BIS Says
Dec. 6 (Bloomberg) -- China’s lending boom may erode thequality of bank balance sheets as a jump in lending was“unavoidably” linked to an easing of credit standards, theBank for International Settlements said.
“While strong loan growth in China has fuelled the currenteconomic recovery, it is not without risks,” the Basel,Switzerland-based BIS said in a quarterly report publishedtoday. The credit expansion “raised concerns about excessivelyloose credit conditions.”
The warning underscores a need for higher loss provisionsat the nation’s lenders that China’s financial regulator hasalready identified. The agency is pushing banks to raise ratiosof reserves to non-performing loans to 150 percent by the end ofthis year, according to the BIS.
US Forecasts Smaller Loss From Bailout of Banks
WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department expects to recover all but $42 billion of the $370 billion it has lent to ailing companies since the financial crisis began last year, with the portion lent to banks actually showing a slight profit, according to a new Treasury report.
The new assessment of the $700 billion bailout program, provided by two Treasury officials on Sunday ahead of a report to Congress on Monday, is vastly improved from the Obama administration’s estimates last summer of $341 billion in potential losses from the Troubled Asset Relief Program. That figure anticipated more financial troubles requiring intervention.
The officials said the government could ultimately lose $100 billion more from the bailout program in new loans to banks, aid to troubled homeowners and credit to small businesses.
Comcast Dividend Won't Buoy Stock, Investors Say
Dec. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Comcast Corp.’s 40 percent dividendboost won’t be enough to relieve concern that the cableoperator’s deal to take control of NBC Universal will crimpshareholder returns, some investors said.
Before yesterday, Comcast had dropped 11 percent in Nasdaqtrading since reports of the $37 billion venture with GeneralElectric Co. first appeared in September. Investors say thatChief Executive Officer Brian Roberts’s hunger for programmingassets may hinder dividend increases and share buybacks.
“This is a company that generates $4 billion or $5 billiona year in free cash flow and they’re giving us back afraction,” said Virge Trotter, a senior analyst at Fairport,New York-based Manning & Napier Advisors Inc., which owned12.1 million shares as of Sept. 30. “It’s kind of a tokencompared to how much cash flow we could be getting back.”
nbc's Zucker Has 'Excuses, Few Results' for Comcast
Dec. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Jeffrey Zucker, NBC Universal’s chiefexecutive officer, may have as few as nine months to provehimself to his new bosses at Comcast Corp. while the biggestU.S. cable operator seeks regulatory approvals.
Zucker, 44, will continue to run NBC Universal during aregulatory review period, executives of the Philadelphia-basedcompany said yesterday on a conference call. The process toacquire control of the General Electric Co. unit may take nineto 12 months.
Profit at NBC Universal has slid 27 percent this year.Under Zucker’s watch, the company’s cable channels liftedresults while the last-place NBC broadcast network sank lower inratings. He moved talk-show host Jay Leno to prime-time, drawingscrutiny from analysts and industry executives who questionwhether he’s the best choice to lead NBC under Comcast.
Dutch defense against climate change: Adapt
AMSTERDAM -- With the Copenhagen summit starting Monday, chances remain uncertain for a historic breakthrough in the fight to prevent climate change, but the Netherlands is leading a fight of a different kind: How to live with global warming.
As sea levels swell and storms intensify, the Dutch are spending billions of euros on "floating communities" that can rise with surging flood waters, on cavernous garages that double as urban floodplains and on re-engineering parts of a coastline as long as North Carolina's. The government is engaging in "selective relocation" of farmers from flood-prone areas and expanding rivers and canals to contain anticipated swells.
The measures are putting this water world of dikes, levies and pumps that have kept Dutch feet dry for centuries ahead of the rest of the world in adapting to harsher climates ahead.
Unemployment and Job Cuts in US Riding Coattails of Recovery
Dec. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Employers in the U.S. cut the fewestjobs in November since the recession began, and the unemploymentrate fell, signaling that the recovery is lifting the labormarket out of the worst slump in the post-World War II era.
Payrolls fell by 11,000, figures from the Labor Departmentshowed yesterday in Washington, compared with the medianforecast for a 125,000 decline in a Bloomberg News survey of 82economists. The jobless rate declined to 10 percent.
The dollar strengthened and Treasuries slid as the reportindicated companies may start hiring again after the job marketshrank by 7.2 million since December 2007. Staffing at temporaryemployment agencies jumped the most in five years, and a gain inwages gave consumers more to spend for the holidays.
