Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

Online Journal E-Mail Center
February 11, 2011 -- 6:30 a.m. CET

Visit WSJ.com at U.S. | EUROPE | ASIA News by section: Front Section | Opinion | Front Section | | Front Section | |   FRONT SECTION 1 For U.K. Banks, a Calamity Is Born Regulators are forcing lenders to consider scenarios like a flu pandemic or disruptions to the country's food-supply chain to measure banks' financial health. • Banks May Face Tougher Tests Diageo Warns of Weak Conditions in Europe Global drinks giant Diageo warned that weak economic conditions in Western Europe, particularly the struggling economies in the south, has contributed to falling demand across the region. • Heard on the Street: Diageo's Hard Slog Back Mubarak Deepens Crisis Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak handed power to his vice president but retained his title, a half-measure that confused observers, angered opposition leaders and provoked an uproar from hundreds of thousands of protesters massed in the center of the country's capital. • Timeline: Mubarak's Career 2 • AGENDA: Irish Poll Key to Anti-German Outlook   3 • Bacon Bounces Back at Sotheby's Sale   4 • Upstarts Spurred Talks of Tie-Up • Francioni: Outsider at His Own Company   5 • Planned Deal Marks NYSE's Decline • Analysts Ask: What Now, Nasdaq?   6 • Bundesbank Head's Move Angers Merkel • BRUSSELS BEAT: EU Regulation Helped Spur Exchanges' Merger Talks   7 • G-20 Set to Agree on Need to Oversee Capital Flows   8 • Ireland's Kenny Wants to Delay to Bank Injections • Bank of England Keeps Rates Steady • U.K. Lawmakers Keep Ban on Prisoners' Voting   9 • The Secret Rally That Sparked an Uprising   10 • Mubarak's Reticence Roils Region   11 • Jobless Claims Fall Below 400,000 • Fed's Warsh Plans to Leave His Post • SEC Watchdog in a Plea for Cash   12 • Soldier Finds Minefield on Road to Citizenship • Confederate General Stirs License-Plate Flap • House GOP Leaders Bow to Call for More Cuts   13 • China Seeks to Ease Food Fears • Catering to New Tastes as Incomes Climb   OPINION 14 The Range Fuels Fiasco A case study in the folly of politically directed investment. George Osborne, Financial Wizard Only Merlin could know how much banks should be lending. Religion Run Amok Indonesia is reeling from some of the worst sectarian violence in years. 15 OPINION •  JOS? MAR?A AZNAR : The Arab World's 1989? •  ARTHUR B. LAFFER: Reaganomics: What We Learned   FRONT SECTION 16 A Different Kind of Girl Scout Jeff and Mary Clarke of Mother Model Management help transport young, beautiful people from obscurity to the fashion runways of New York and Paris.   FRONT SECTION 31 Rotterdam: A Port of Call for Business As Europe's biggest port and the Netherlands' center of business, Rotterdam is now far more lively than it once was, and it is improving all the time. Iberia Adds Routes to Brazil; Visit Saudi on a Budget There are some useful new flights if you travel on business between Spain and Brazil. Spanish airline Iberia, now teamed up with British Airways, has launched new services from Madrid to Fortaleza and Recife in the northeast of Brazil. 32 • The Most Expensive Game in History • Tip of the Day   33 • Online Game's Banker Battles Inflation   34 • WORLD AT A GLANCE: World Watch   35 • BUSINESS AT A GLANCE: Business Watch View the latest What's News Online Past Editions of In Today's Paper   19 Investors Warm to Big Deals In this year's early wave of big corporate takeovers, even the shares of acquiring companies have gotten a boost. Ghosn: Cost Data Key to Renault Spy Case Renault's chief said in an interview that the French car maker acted to protect key cost data that would give competitors an edge about the company's electric-car development program. • Heard: Renault's Low-Revs Revival Plan • Nissan to Move Production Abroad • Interview: On Russia, China, Electric Vehicles 20 • Emerging Markets Boost Rolls-Royce • Kraft Profit Squeezed by Cadbury Acquisition • Costs Cloud Outlook at PepsiCo   21 • Credit Suisse Cuts Forecast • Emerging Markets Boost L'Oréal Profit   24 • Rio Profit Triples, Plans Share Buyback • Weak Demand Hits Gazprom   25 • Widening Probe Snares Trader • Suspicion of Forex Gouging Spreads   26 • Apple's Jobs Calls Shots From Home • Google Closes In on Next New Networks • Yahoo Builds a 'Digital Newsstand' • EBay Revs Up PayPal Engine   27 • European Stocks Fall as Earnings Disappoint   36 HEARD ON THE STREET Clouded Outlook for U.K. Gilts Gilt yields fell slightly as the Bank of England left interest rates unchanged and the euro-zone debt crisis threatened to reignite. But the longer-term outlook for gilts isn't bright. HEARD ON THE STREET A Return to Earth for Credit Suisse Credit Suisse was a clear winner in the aftermath of the financial crisis. But the bank's 2010 results suggest this progress has stalled, while its decision to cut the dividend and lower its return-on-equity targets from 2012 smacks of past overconfidence. HEARD ON THE STREET Rio's Resurgence too Reliant on Iron Ore High iron ore prices are central to Rio's turnaround, but they'll need to stay high to keep hiding some of the miner's weaker points. Overheard Nearly two centuries after his death, are Thomas Malthus's theories again finding their moment? After a brief flurry of interest in the 2007/8 boom, they are back, at least according to two commodities analysts at Barclays Capital. The 19th-century vicar gloomily forecast that the global population would eventually become too large for the earth's resources to sustain, although many have since argued Malthus ignored the benefits technological development would bring. Fast forward to the present day, and BarCap argues that a range of commodities face supply constraints as demand, especially from Asia, inexorably grows. And there aren't encouraging signs commodities producers are developing technology quickly enough to develop more supply. The likely result? Higher inflation, which central banks will try to tame with tighter policy that eventually stalls growth, and more prolonged periods of global price volatility. For more, see BarCap's "2011 Equity Gilt Study." And fix yourself a stiff drink.   W1 TINA GAUDOIN ON STYLE Scents and Sensuality Tina Gaudoin says the sexiest perfumes are almost always in the crème de la crème bracket, where premium ingredients and a "nose" of genius combine to create classic sensual scents. W2 • EUROPEAN LIFE: A Debate Over Books and Sequestered Nooks   W3 • A Basque Sculptor in Madrid   W4 • THEATER: Not Your Typical Greek Salad   W5 • BRUCE PALLING ON FOOD: A Daringly English Dinner • Will Lyons on Wine: Oregon's Quirky Charm   W6 • Navigating Through Colombia   W7 • OFF THE BEATEN TRACK: Port Townsend, Washington   W8 • On the Runway: Six Trends to Watch   W12 • Taking Chalet Chic to the City   W13 • The Radical New Vision of Golf   W14 • The Nile, Then and Now • The Work, Not the Author, Matters   W16 • Berlin's Jumbo Film Festival   W17 • Ralph Fiennes's 'Samurai' Coriolanus   W18 • THEATER: An Embarrassment of Riches   W19 • Cultural Calendar: What's On Around Europe   W20 • Friday Night, Saturday Morning: Agatha Ruiz de la Prada Practices Staying in Bed Follow WSJ on Facebook and Twitter.