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When will Alibaba go public? Ask a fortune teller

Written By limadu on Senin, 30 Juni 2014 | 14.45

alibaba fortune ipo Jack Ma is taking Alibaba public in what could be the biggest IPO in U.S. history.

HONG KONG (CNNMoney)

Just one big question remains: What date will co-founder Jack Ma choose for Alibaba's market debut?

This is no small matter -- especially in China, where traditional beliefs, from numerology to cosmology, inform all kinds of major decisions.

Getting married? Better choose a lucky date. Looking for a new job? Best to consult a fortune teller. Renting an apartment? Avoid the fourth floor at all costs.

The business world is no different. Companies in China often hire feng shui masters -- trained in Chinese beliefs about how to organize space -- to determine office layouts or brochure designs.

By this way of thinking, picking the wrong debut date could be the difference between a GoPro-style first day bump for Alibaba shares -- or the kind of embarrassing price slide suffered by King (KING), maker of Candy Crush.

"If [Alibaba] knows that there are certain dates on the calendar that are going to be lucky dates, they would be foolish not to take advantage of that," said Joseph Bosco, associate professor of anthropology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. "Chinese investors are going to be thinking of these kinds of issues."

Related: Meet four kings of Alibaba's online retail empire

To get a better sense of Alibaba's lucky dates, CNNMoney consulted a handful of Hong Kong fortune tellers, bringing along a photo of Jack Ma for a face reading. The entrepreneur's hands are visible, at just the right angle for an accurate palm reading.

Flipping through a fat fortune almanac by the Temple Street night market, Mary Li jabbed her finger at Aug. 14 and 15. Those days are "big lucky dates this year," she said.

Surprisingly, Aug. 8 doesn't look great, said Li, who charged 200 Hong Kong dollars ($26) for her predictions. (Eight is typically considered a very auspicious number -- in Chinese, eight is a homophone for prosperity. The number four, meanwhile, sounds like the Chinese word for death.)

Fortune almanacs were used for centuries by farmers to predict the weather. Now, they're often consulted over dates for buying a home -- or even getting a divorce.

Another fortune teller, who gave her name as Ally, said Ma ought to pick October, based on the "bazi" belief that a person's destiny can be determined by when they were born. Still, without Ma's exact birth hour, she was unable to be more specific.

Related: Five things to know about Alibaba

Most of the fortune tellers didn't recognize Ma, and many that did refused to speak on the record. One was too nervous to be interviewed without talking to Ma himself for fear of making an incorrect prediction.

Some Chinese believe it's bad luck to issue a wrong forecast and for amateurs to dabble in the dark arts. (In fact, this reporter's grandfather warned against writing this article as it could unleash a bout of misfortune.)

Dates aside, fortune teller Li said it's likely that Ma will do well even if he doesn't pick the most ideal moment for Alibaba's IPO. After all, just look at the guy.

Ma's face has all the most prosperous features, according to Chinese face reading beliefs.

His nostrils aren't very prominent, which indicates good financial prospects. Ears placed higher on his head point to a strong character, his cheeks show that he's someone who will easily find fame, and reddish palms reveal he has a lot of power. Plus, his wide forehead and structured chin indicate that he "will earn tons of money his whole life," Li said.

Asked if it would be a good investment to buy Alibaba shares, she said, "Absolutely, you should make sure to befriend him and buy his stock!"

"Even better," Li said. "He's got big money -- if he's not married, you should marry him right away!"

First Published: June 29, 2014: 9:45 PM ET


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Obama's pick to fix veterans affairs tried to fix Procter & Gamble, too

bob mcdonald p&g Bob McDonald, a former CEO of Procter & Gamble, is President Obama's nominee for Veterans Affairs secretary.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Bob McDonald has been in the hot seat before. He took the helm of global consumer products giant Procter & Gamble (PG) in 2009 amid the throes of the Great Recession. His task was to restructure and streamline the company, no easy task for a company with recognizable brands as diverse as Bounty paper towels, Duracell batteries, Pampers diapers and Tide detergent.

Although he was ousted from the top job four years later, his legacy at the company includes growing sales and profits in rough economic waters.

His critics argued the company wasn't moving fast enough to improve efficiency. Chief among them was hedge fund investor Bill Ackman, who charged that McDonald served on the boards of too many other organizations to focus properly on P&G's needs; the company said Ackman's claims were overstated.

McDonald will be announced on Monday as Obama's nominee to lead the troubled Veterans Affairs department, a White House official told CNN's Jim Acosta. Secretary Eric Shinseki stepped down in late May amid allegations of shortcomings in medical care for veterans. To land the job, McDonald must be confirmed by the Senate.

Related: Obama taps CEO to lead VA

McDonald began his rise to the corner office in 1980, when he joined P&G as an entry-level employee in 1980 after five years in the Army. In his final year as CEO, he was paid nearly $16 million, according to documents filed with the SEC .

By the time he took over in 2009, the company was in need of cost-cutting. McDonald responded with a plan that would save about $10 billion over four years, including a significant cut to the marketing budget and a 10% workforce reduction.

That wasn't enough for Ackman, who bought nearly $2 billion in P&G stock. The board eventually let McDonald go. He was replaced by A.G. Lafley, who was also his predecessor. Ackman told CNNMoney at the time that Lafley's only mistake "was who he picked to succeed him, and now he's going to fix that."

The company won several awards under McDonald's tenure: it was twice named best company for leaders by Chief Executive Magazine, and ranked first among over 2,000 companies in a leadership study by the management consultants at Hay Group.

McDonald currently serves on the board of the Xerox Corporation (a post he held while CEO of P&G) as well as U.S. Steel and several advisory groups.

He has donated to the political campaigns of several prominent Republicans, including 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney and House Speaker John Boehner.

McDonald was first named to the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership Steering Committee by President George W. Bush, an appointment that was renewed by Obama.

--CNNMoney's Zain Asher and CNN's Erin McPike contributed to this report

First Published: June 29, 2014: 7:17 PM ET


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Internet outraged by Facebook's 'creepy' mood experiment

facebook 2

HONG KONG (CNNMoney)

Internet users have reacted angrily to news that Facebook researchers manipulated the content some users were shown in an attempt to gauge their emotional response.

For one week in early 2012, Facebook (FB, Tech30) changed the content mix in the News Feeds of almost 690,000 users. Some people were shown a higher number of positive posts, while others were shown more negative posts.

The results of the experiment, conducted by researchers from Cornell, the University of California, San Francisco and Facebook, were published this month in the prestigious academic journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

The study found that users that were shown more negative content were slightly more likely to produce negative posts. Users in the positive group responded with more upbeat posts.

So it worked! Facebook was able to successfully change the emotional state of its users. While the mood changes were small, the researchers argued that the findings have major implications given the size and scale of the social network.

Facebook's term of service gives the company permission to conduct this kind of research, but many users have reacted with anger at what they say is a dangerous social experiment. There is no indication that the 690,000 subjects were asked if they would like to take part in the study.

"I wonder if Facebook KILLED anyone with their emotion manipulation stunt," privacy activist Lauren Weinstein said on Twitter. "At their scale and with depressed people out there, it's possible."

Facebook uses an algorithm to determine which of roughly 1,500 available posts will show up in a user's News Feed. The company frequently changes this program to modify the mix of news, personal stories and advertisements seen by users.

Related: Facebook's new face recognition knows you from the side

The Facebook researcher who designed the experiment, Adam D. I. Kramer, said in a post Sunday that the research was part of an effort to improve the service -- not upset users.

"I can understand why some people have concerns about it, and my coauthors and I are very sorry for the way the paper described the research and any anxiety it caused," Kramer wrote. "In hindsight, the research benefits of the paper may not have justified all of this anxiety."

A Facebook spokesman said the company frequently does research to "improve our services and to make the content people see on Facebook as relevant and engaging as possible."

"We carefully consider what research we do and have a strong internal review process," the spokesman said in a statement. "There is no unnecessary collection of people's data in connection with these research initiatives and all data is stored securely."

Given the company's terms of service, it does not appear that Facebook faces any legal implications. But the guinea pig nature of the experiment -- and the decision to execute it without the explicit consent of participants, raises ethical questions.

Susan Fiske, the Princeton professor who edited the research, said that while the research was "inventive and useful," the outcry suggests that maybe it shouldn't have been carried out.

"I was concerned," she told The Atlantic, "until I queried the authors and they said their local institutional review board had approved it -- and apparently on the grounds that Facebook apparently manipulates people's News Feeds all the time... I understand why people have concerns. I think their beef is with Facebook, really, not the research."

First Published: June 30, 2014: 1:45 AM ET


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Aereo suspends TV service...but not 'shutting down'

Written By limadu on Minggu, 29 Juni 2014 | 14.44

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The court ruling found that Aereo violates copyright law by picking up the signals of local television stations and retransmitting them via the Internet to paying subscribers.

"As a result of that decision, our case has been returned to the lower Court," Aereo founder Chet Kanojia said in an email message to subscribers on Saturday morning.

Related: The future of media

"We have decided to pause our operations temporarily as we consult with the court and map out our next steps."

The "pause" will take place at 11:30 a.m. Eastern on Saturday.

Kanojia said all subscribers (the company has never specified how many it has) will be refunded "their last paid month."

Kanojia ended his email by saying "our journey is far from done." And in a subsequent email message to reporters, an Aereo representative said "We want to emphasize that this is a pause, and that the company is not shutting down."

However, conventional wisdom following Wednesday's ruling held that Aereo would either have to close up shop or radically change its business model.

Related: 6 cool innovations we're still waiting for

"For broadcasters, this is a huge relief, and lifts a cloud of uncertainty," Needham & Co. analyst Laura Martin wrote in an investors' note on Wednesday. "Although there was a low probability the Supreme Court would decide against them, the cost would have been billions of dollars of lost revenue through lower retransmission fees."

In the wake of the court ruling, "the only option that remains available to Aereo would be to change its model and pay the broadcasters to distribute the content," just like cable and satellite distributors do, Nomura analyst Anthony DiClemente wrote in a research note. He said Aereo could essentially offer "a slimmed-down content package delivered over the Internet."

First Published: June 28, 2014: 10:27 AM ET


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American Apparel adopts plan to prevent a takeover

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

On Saturday, the company announced that it has adopted a one-year shareholders rights plan in an effort to prevent Charney, or any other person or group, from seizing a controlling interest in the company.

The company's "poison pill" provision kicks in once anyone purchases 15% or more of the company's outstanding stock. At that point, shareholders will be granted the right to purchase shares at $2.75 each in an effort to dilute any potential acquirer's interest.

Related: American Apparel's ousted CEO fights back!

American Apparel (APP) said the plan is in response to documents Charney filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission that expressed his "intent to acquire control or influence over the Company."

On Friday, Charney submitted a regulatory filing with the SEC announcing that he's partnering with investment firm Standard General in an effort to buy large amounts of American Apparel stock.

Charney currently owns 27.2% of the company's stock, according to the filing.

Charney was ousted as chairman earlier this month. An American Apparel director told CNNMoney the decision came after the board learned of "disturbing" information that suggested "misconduct" by Charney.

Allegations of misconduct are not new for Charney, who has faced several lawsuits claiming everything from sexual harassment to assault and battery.

Related: 6 endangered brands

Charney's lawyer Patricia Glaser sent a letter to the company's board of directors last week saying the company acted in "a manner that was not merely unconscionable but illegal."

Charney founded the company in 1998 and took the company public in 2005 at $8 per share. The shares eventually rose to nearly $17. But in recent years, American Apparel has been fighting to stave off bankruptcy.

American Apparel's stock closed Friday at 97 cents a share.

First Published: June 28, 2014: 11:42 AM ET


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GM's 'culture' blamed for current crisis

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

In an exclusive interview that aired Saturday on CNN's "Smerconish," former GM manager Bill McAleer told host Michael Smerconish that employees who work at GM were "faced with a culture where you get fired if you do talk about quality and safety issues, and you get fired if you don't talk about them."

GM (GM) is dealing with a backlash for delaying the recall of 2.6 million vehicles for an ignition switch defect that's been tied to at least 13 deaths. Some GM employees knew the part was causing trouble more than a decade before the recall was issued in February.

McAleer, who started on the assembly line in 1968, says he was in charge of the Global Delivery Survey from 1988 to 1998 that GM used to help assess the quality of its cars before they were delivered to dealers.

Related: Two died in 2006 Cobalt crash. But GM counts only one

He says he found a "wide variety" of what he called "catastrophic defects" beginning in 1995, when GM added a routine obstacle course drive to its quality checklist. Problems ranged from gasoline leaks to steering linkage issues that pointed to overall quality defects.

McAleer said that while the company seemed responsive to fixing problems in the mid '90's, that changed.

"In 1997 something happened internally in GM where no problem could be admitted. Whether it was safety or any kind of problem. We couldn't have a problem," he said.

"That's what happened with the ignition switch," he added. "People knew there was a problem, but problems were not acceptable. They just ignored it."

McAleer eventually was laid off from GM in 2004. He tried to sue the company under a whistleblower law but said he was unsuccessful.

Related: GM's recall nightmare

McAleer said he sent a letter to the GM board of directors to tell them about the overall quality problems and the lack of action by management, but he thinks that the letter might have been intentionally misdirected once it got there.

GM issued a statement saying,"If McAleer's concerns were submitted by an employee today, they would be thoroughly investigated within the safety organization, however that is not to imply that in this particular case, his issues weren't."

The company also said that while McAleer lost his case against GM, it will still look at his allegations to see what "we can learn."

First Published: June 28, 2014: 9:13 AM ET


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GM: Four more safety recalls, 430,000 cars

Written By limadu on Sabtu, 28 Juni 2014 | 14.44

general motors headquarters GM's recalls continue as the automaker announces four more, affecting nearly 430,000 vehicles in the U.S.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The recall covers nearly 30,000 air bag inflators in 2013-2014 model year Chevrolet Cruze sedans. GM (GM) says the inflators could fail or rupture, which could propel metal pieces that could injure the driver. GM says its aware of one injury related to the issue.

The automaker told dealerships to stop selling those Cruze models on Tuesday, but lifted that stop-sale order late Wednesday, after identifying all the affected vehicles.

Related: Steps to a recall nightmare

The part in question was manufactured by Japanese company Takata, a supplier tied to airbag problems in millions of cars that other automakers recalled earlier this week. The Cruze problem stems from a defective part instead of a chemical issue that affected other recalled vehicles, said GM spokesman Jim Cain.

The Cruze is GM's best-selling car in the United States. It sold 248,000 of them last year.

Also covered in today's announcement: Transmission software in nearly 400,000 trucks and SUV's that needs updating so that the vehicles don't slip into neutral on their own. Vehicles covered are four wheel drive versions of the 2014-2015 Silverado and GMC Sierra models; 2015 Tahoes and Suburbans; and the 2015 GMC Yukon and Yukon XL.

In addition, GM says it will inspect, and replace if necessary, the windshield wiper assemblies in about 5,000 2013-2014 Caprice police cars and SS sport sedans. The company says if gears get stripped the motors may fail and the wipers might not operate.

Finally, GM says it will replace the two rear shock absorbers in nearly 2,000 2014 model year Corvettes to repair a weld that could potentially lead to failure of the shock absorbers.

The news comes as the automaker is already in damage control mode for delaying the recall of 2.6 million vehicles for an ignition switch defect that's been tied to at least 13 deaths. Some GM employees knew the part was causing trouble more than a decade before the recall was issued in February.

Now, GM is facing dozens of lawsuits and a number of investigations concerning how it handled that recall.

The company has also issued a number of additional recalls this year for problems unrelated to the faulty ignition switch. It has recalled more than 20 million vehicles worldwide since January.

On Monday, the automaker and Kenneth Feinberg will unveil a compensation plan to victims and their families. Feinberg is a consultant who also determined payouts after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the BP oil spill, and the Boston Marathon bombing.

First Published: June 27, 2014: 6:54 PM ET


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Red Bull settles with U.S. on Cuba violations claims

red bull cuba Red Bull North America has settled with the U.S. over alleged Cuba sanction violations

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The Treasury Department said Friday that the company has agreed to pay $89,775 over allegations it failed to get authorization from the Treasury to travel to Cuba in 2009.

The more than half-century old U.S. boycott of Cuba strictly prohibits businesses from visiting the island without first obtaining a license.

The Treasury says that between June 8 and June 18, 2009, seven representatives of Red Bull North America traveled to Cuba in order to film a documentary, without first obtaining approval.

In a statement, Treasury said Red Bull had prior knowledge of U.S. sanctions on Cuba and took steps to conceal the visits. It also said that Red Bull's management had approved of the film and the travel involved.

The penalties could have been worse. The government says the maximum penalty could have been $455,000.

Red Bull North America did not respond to a request for comment.

First Published: June 27, 2014: 4:03 PM ET


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Aaron Swartz's father: He'd be alive today if he was never arrested

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Swartz faced multiple charges for breaking and entering into an MIT wiring closet and downloading academic journals, including two counts of wire fraud and 11 counts of violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Swartz, who was battling the court, also battled with depression. Prosecutors dropped the charges after his death.

I first met Swartz's father, Robert, last year as he explained his mission to fight for his son's memory by helping to change outdated laws. He wanted answers about why he lost his son.

His son's story is now the subject of a new documentary called "The Internet's Own Boy: The story of Aaron Swartz."

More than a year after his death, Robert Swartz still seeks answers, which he discussed with me this week.

How would you describe your son's impact?

Robert Swartz: He was someone who tried to understand technology and use it as a force for good. He came up with the notion of Wikipedia before Wikipedia started. It was very clear that he felt that putting academic research behind a pay wall was wrong and that it limited the diffusion of knowledge.

11 out of the 13 charges against your son were violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Do you believe the law is outdated?

There's no question the law is outdated. At the moment, that law makes it a felony for you to give your password to HBO to a friend. That has to be changed.

You believe the criminal justice system failed your son. If it weren't for the charges, do you believe Aaron would still be alive?

Without question.

How does that make you feel?

Like one who's gone into the abyss.

Describe what Aaron went through.

I remember after he was arrested, he got a call from MIT saying could he come back and get his backpack and bicycle, which they had seized. I was in Cambridge [Massachusetts] and he asked if I would accompany him. We waited there for a long period of time and finally a policeman came out and went into a room and retrieved his bicycle and said to us, 'The rest of this is in the hands of the Secret Service.' And we looked at each other and realized at that point that this was much more serious than we'd imagined, and we couldn't make any sense of it. We were just devastated.

How did this affect him?

It was overwhelming. He was afraid, he was concerned. [The police] went to his apartment, went through all his personal effects. He was worried about his phone being tapped. He couldn't go to MIT, he couldn't go to Harvard. He couldn't leave the country because they took his passport. The prosecutor was cruel and vindictive and bordered ... on sadism. They strip-searched him and they left him in solitary confinement for hours and after he met his bond, they kept him in solitary confinement for three or four hours with absolutely no explanation -- all with the goal of attempting to break him. This is not a system in which people are treated fairly or reasonably. They're bullied and destroyed.

What is your message to the judicial system?

We need to do a better job. Rather than trying to prosecute someone who's trying to make the world a better place, there are immense amounts of cybercrime going on where people are exploiting credit cards and doing things that are really bad. Even if you argue, which i think is completely false, that Aaron was guilty of something, there was no proportionality in the way that they acted.

[Apple founders] Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak started a business by selling a box that allowed criminal fraud against the phone company. Bill Gates started in business at Harvard without paying for the computer time to write BASIC. Edwin Land who invented the Land camera broke into Columbia University to do experiments.. Mark Zuckerberg, in a similar way to Aaron, scraped the data off of Harvard's computer system to start Facebook. These people are lionized for their accomplishments despite the fact that they did things that weren't exactly legal.

In Aaron's case, he did things that were not illegal and he was destroyed for it. And he was trying to make the world a better place. We need to celebrate people who do this . We need more Aaron Swartzes.

First Published: June 27, 2014: 4:13 PM ET


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Airbag problems result in millions of recalls

Written By limadu on Selasa, 24 Juni 2014 | 14.44

airbag recall Honda, Nissan, Mazda and Toyota are recalling millions of cars because of faulty inflators for Takata air bags.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says Honda (HMC), Nissan (NSANF), Toyota (TM), Mazda (MZDAF), Chrysler, Ford (F) and BMW are recalling the vehicles equipped with the airbags made by the Japanese company Takata. The recall follows a NHTSA investigation into six reports of airbag inflator ruptures, all of which occurred in Florida and Puerto Rico.

In a statement last week, the company said it believes high levels of humidity are factors in the inflator problem.

Honda said it is recalling more than 2 million vehicles in the United States. There's a nationwide recall of several models, including Civic, Accord and Odyssey, from 2002 and 2003, as well as recalls limited to certain warm-weather states, as well as Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

Honda said it knows of one report of injury related to the problem.

Related: Toyota adds 650,000 cars to airbag recall

Nissan (NSANF) said it is recalling 755,000 vehicles, including 228,000 in North America.

Earlier this month, Toyota (TM) also expanded a recall because of the Takata airbags to nearly 2.8 million vehicles.

Chrysler spokesman Nick Cappa said the investigation is ongoing so his company doesn't know how many cars it's going to recall, but it would probably involve the 2006 Dodge Charger.

First Published: June 23, 2014: 1:59 PM ET


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American Apparel CEO hits back

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Dov Charney, the embattled ex-CEO of retailer American Apparel (APP), says he has been approached by company stockholders who have expressed "support for his continued leadership" of the company, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Charney is essentially threatening to shake up the board. If he succeeds he may be able to launch a bid to reclaim his title as CEO.

Charney was fired by the company's board last week after what board member Allan Mayer described as "disturbing" information surfaced that suggested "misconduct" by Charney.

But Charney is not going quietly.

His attorney sent a letter to the board saying the company "violated its legal and contractual obligations to Mr. Charney in numerous respects," resulting in "substantial professional, reputational and financial injuries to Mr. Charney."

Charney, who founded the company back in 1998, is still its largest individual shareholder.

Related: American Apparel board learned of "disturbing misconduct"

Meanwhile, American Apparel has hired the investment banking advisory firm Peter J. Solomon. When asked if that means the company is for sale, a spokesman said "Today's press release speaks for itself."

The retailer said in the statement that the firm was hired to ensure "adequate access to capital."

One dealmaker says American Apparel may have no choice but to sell itself to the highest bidder.

"The path is now open for someone to come in and make an attractive offer for American Apparel to go private," said Lloyd Greif, the CEO of L.A. investment banking firm Greif & Co. "I expect that to happen by the end of the year."

Greif, who's been doing deals for 33 years, says the board will have a fiduciary duty to look at bids from interested buyers and may have "no choice but to sell."

Charney was notorious for controversial behavior, and was named in a series of sexual harassment suits filed by employees in recent years.

American Apparel has been struggling for years. Company shares, which topped $15 in 2007, now trade for less than $1.

First Published: June 23, 2014: 1:17 PM ET


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World Cup gets record U.S. ratings

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The USA-Portugal match on ESPN averaged 18.2 million viewers on Sunday, topping the 11.1 million that tuned in for USA-Ghana on June 16.

Another 6.5 million viewers watched a Spanish-language broadcast of the USA-Portugal match on Univision, according to Nielsen ratings that were released Monday. Combined, the ESPN and Univision telecasts averaged almost 25 million viewers. (Another 1.4 million watched on the cable channel ESPN3.)

All of these audience figures are incomplete, though, because Nielsen does not measure any out-of-home viewing at bars, restaurants or other locations where people have congregated to watch World Cup matches, or any viewing on phones or computers.

ESPN said the live stream of the match via its WatchESPN app added another 490,000 viewers to the total audience.

All of these figures are averages for the duration of the 95-minute match; unsurprisingly, total viewership was lower in the beginning and higher toward the end. ESPN said its viewership peaked between 7:30 and 8 p.m., in the final minutes of the match, when about 23 million viewers tuned in.

Related: Scenarios for the U.S. to advance

ESPN said in a statement that USA-Portugal ranked as "the most-viewed soccer match in the United States ever, across all networks," eclipsing the "previous high of 17,975,000 viewers for the 1999 Women's World Cup final (USA vs. China) on ABC."

Both ABC and ESPN are controlled by The Walt Disney Co. (DIS)

So far, ESPN's ratings are up about 30% compared to the last World Cup in 2010. Univision's ratings are up nearly 50%.

"The whole world's watching right now," former U.S. Men's World Cup player Cobi Jones said Monday on CNN.

Related: The most social sporting event ever

In the U.S., "you're seeing younger generations really following the sport," and that's translating to higher ratings, he said.

The next USA match will be played against Germany at noon ET on Thursday.

First Published: June 23, 2014: 4:09 PM ET


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Friday Links

Written By limadu on Sabtu, 21 Juni 2014 | 14.44

062014 - friday links

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

A weekly collection of design, data and interactive links.

Photo/Video
Seismik | Herman Kolgen explores vertical layering dislocations
8-Bit 3D Art | Ron Burgundy and Boba Fett rendered in 3D printed pixels
Kodama | 20syl's new music video
Milky Way | Michael Shainblum shares 3 tips for photographing the Milky Way

Design/Data viz
Maschinenangst | Vera Idelson's costume and set design illustrations for the Italian Futurist play The Anguish of the Machines
The Story of EBoy | Watch the video, it's great
Visualizing MBTA Data | An interactive exploration of Boston's subway system
LazerBlade | The affordable laser cutter and engraver
Can you find Benghazi? | Can you accurately locate Benghazi?

Code
ArnoldC | A programming language based on the one liners of Arnold Schwarzenegger
Web Starter Kit | Boilerplate & tooling for multi-device development from Google

See last week's links

Have a nice weekend!
@dubly and @talyellin

First Published: June 20, 2014: 4:21 PM ET


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Starbucks prices are going up

starbucks prices A tall latte will cost between 15 and 20 cents more after Tuesday.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

On average a drink will cost between 5 and 20 cents more, depending on what you order and where you're making the purchase.

The price of a tall or venti sized latte will go up by between 15 and 20 cents, for example. But the price of a grande (medium in plain-speak) sized latte won't change at all. The cost of a tall brewed coffee and any sized frappuccino won't change either.

The company estimates that the orders of fewer than 20% of its customers will be affected. The price is only changing in U.S. stores, but it will change more in some markets than others.

Related: Starbucks workers could pay $23,000 for 4-year tuition

Starbucks is also raising the price of its packaged coffee sold in grocery stores by about 8%, beginning July 21. While retailers ultimately set the price, customers can expect to pay about $1 more per 12 oz. bag.

The change will actually bring the price back up to what it cost in April 2013, when the company cut the cost, spokesman Zack Hutson said.

He would not specify why the price hike is going into effect, but said the company considers factors like "competitive dynamics" and its overall cost structure.

Hutson said the price hike is not a knee-jerk reaction to the recent rise in coffee prices, which have skyrocketed due to a severe drought in Brazil. Starbucks buys its coffee beans ahead of time and already has enough for the rest of the fiscal year, and some of the next, he said.

The price hike at Starbucks (SBUX) comes about two months after J.M. Smucker (SJM) raised the price of its coffee products, including those for Folgers and Dunkin' Donuts, by 9%.

First Published: June 20, 2014: 2:54 PM ET


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Google hosts all-girl coding party

google made with code Actress and producer Mindy Kaling was the host at an event geared toward getting more young girls interested in tech.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Made With Code aims to address what, according to Google's own research, are the top two reasons women don't get into computer science -- exposure and encouragement.

Actress and producer Mindy Kaling hosted the Made With Code launch event for the initiative in New York on Thursday night, where supporter Chelsea Clinton was also among the 150 in attendance. Clinton is Vice Chair of the Clinton Foundation, whose No Ceilings project works to further the full participation of women and girls in all parts of society.

"It was really powerful for the girls in the room, some of whom have never coded, to see the connection between art, music, dance -- the things they love -- and coding," said Reshma Saujani, founder & CEO of Girls Who Code, a partner of the Made With Code initiative.

Girls Who Code places high school juniors and seniors in coding classes within the walls of major private sector corporations like Google (GOOGL, Tech30), Twitter (TWTR, Tech30), eBay (EBAY, Tech30) and others.

The Made With Code website is a hub for interactive coding projects, video profiles of female coders merging their tech skills with their other interests, and a directory for coding classes, camps and opportunities from partner organizations.

Video profiles on the site include women and girls working in music engineering, studying human robot interactions and at the intersection of fashion and technology.

Related: Black girls take on tech's diversity woes

For the initiative, Google recruited partners and supporters including Girls Inc., Girl Scouts of the USA, MIT Media Lab, National Center for Women & Information Technology, Seventeen magazine, and the influential industry news site TechCrunch.

Google has also pledged $50 million to support nonprofits working to teach girls computer science.

Just a few weeks ago Google released a report revealing a severe gender gap within its own ranks. Only 30% of Googlers are women, with just 17% women on their tech teams. This week, Yahoo (YAHOF) followed suit by releasing numbers on their own staff. Despite having Marissa Mayer as CEO, Yahoo is only 15% female on the tech side of its business.

Related: Google: Overwhelmingly white and male

The numbers illustrate the industry's serious gender gap. In the United States, women make up only 28% of the science and engineering workforce, according to the National Science Foundation.

"We're building a movement here," said Saujani. "We're trying to reach millions of girls and teach them to code. We have a lot of work to do. This is just the beginning."

First Published: June 20, 2014: 4:06 PM ET


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Can enough money buy you eternal youth?

Written By limadu on Jumat, 20 Juni 2014 | 14.44

eternal youth

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

No need to go that far.

It turns out, the best kind of anti-aging treatment is inside one's own body, and the rich are taking advantage of it, exploring the latest research in new technologies, genome mapping and stem cell treatments.

Among them is Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison, a large investor of the Ellison Medical Foundation, which supports research exploring the biology that underlies aging and age-related diseases. And there's billionaire Peter Nygård, who says he wants to live forever (or die trying), and has suggested he's found the keys to immortality in stem cell research.

Some doctors agree that stem cells are a key part of chasing youth.

"If you're a wealthy guy and haven't stored your stem cells, I think you're a total idiot," said Dr. Lionel Bissoon, a New York City physician who sees a number of stressed out, wealthy patients.

Related: It's expensive being rich

They usually come to him with similar problems: "Fatigue, belly fat, erectile dysfunction, tiring very quickly ... all very common with my patients from Wall Street," Bissoon said. The short-term solution to those ailments, he says, is testosterone replacement -- which is relatively affordable at a few hundred dollars a pop -- and IV nutrition.

For the long term he recommends stem cell storage, which works as a sort of rainy day insurance. The cells are extracted, preferably when the patient is on the younger side -- around 30 is said to be a good age -- and can then be used to boost an immune system or help to rebuild damaged organs later.

Dr. Dipnarine Maharaj stores cells at his South Florida Bone Marrow Stem Cell Transplant Institute in Boynton Beach, Fla.

"People are looking and finding ways to be able to help them to live longer to spend the money they've earned," he said. "They spend their retirement going doctor to doctor, and if we can find ways to prevent that it would be good." His clinic sees executives under a lot of stress, a fast way to damage any immune system.

He agrees that it's important to store cells before they become irreparably damaged. To collect and store stem cells at his clinic costs $15,000 for the initial extraction, which includes a year of storage. After that, storage costs $50 per month.

Stem cells aren't the only high-end solution.

Earlier this year, Malaysian billionaire Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay reportedly became one of the initial financial backers of a new genomics and cell therapy technology company called Human Longevity, dedicated to tackling age-related diseases and expanding the human life span.

Another company, Singapore-based Scéil, says it's the first to transform human cells into nearly any tissue type in the body.

"This technology has the potential to reverse, or even cure diseases and repair damaged tissues of your body," the company told CNNMoney in an email. Scéil attempts to obtain "a complete backup" of your genome from a skin sample and stores it for future use. The program costs $60,000 plus storage fees of $5,000 for 10 years, or $25,000 for a lifetime.

Related: No 99%ers allowed

"The aging process can be manipulated," said Sonia Arrison, author of 100 Plus: How the Coming Age of Longevity Will Change Everything, From Careers and Relationships to Family and Faith. "We're just at the beginning. There really is going to be a revolution ... it's going to be possible and not crazy at all to have a human life expectancy of 150 years."

She said that it's already possible to use 3D printers to construct organs, and that process will only get faster and more accessible.

But all that advancement won't be available to all -- at least not at first. "Obviously the rich will get it first," she said, comparing 3D printed organ availability to cell phones, which were once cost prohibitive to the masses. Now, six billion of the world's seven billion people have one, according to a U.N. study.

"It's how long is the timeline between the rich getting it and the poor getting it," she said.

Dr. Anthony Atala, who runs the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine in Winston-Salem, N.C., is committed to making sure those outside the 1% get fair access to such technologies, so that "printing" organs on demand becomes something everyone can do.

"Part of the automation is making sure we lower the cost of these technologies," he said.

First Published: June 19, 2014: 9:38 PM ET


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Why I put World of Warcraft on my resume

stephen gillett World of Warcraft helped make Stephen Gillett the chief information officer of Starbucks. He's now COO of Symantec.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

If it isn't clear already, we're talking about the online video game World of Warcraft.

"I put my qualifications on my resume when I apply for jobs," Gillett said. "Here's my guild. Here's my ranking. Here's my biggest online achievement. Some people look at it and say, 'What the hell is this?' And others will be like, 'That's exactly what I'm looking for.'"

It paid off. It helped him land a job at Corbis, and eventually Starbucks. Starbucks (SBUX)CEO Howard Schultz hired Gillett to be the company's chief information officer when the company was in a rut in 2008.

Related story: Amazon unveils 3-D Fire Phone

Gillett said he includes his World of Warcraft achievements on his resume, because it's not just about role-playing games. It shows he exercises leadership in both the physical and virtual realms. Plus, he understands the current societal fascination with earning points and interactive entertainment.

As a guild master, his current duties and responsibilities include organizing dungeon raids and managing the group's virtual bank. And he has a knack for recruiting key talent. Think mages and warlocks.

Those skills transferred to his position as Starbucks' CIO, Gillett says. In that role, he was tasked with saving the company's suffering technology assets. Cash registers were outdated. Computers were scarce. Customer sales were down.

Gillett's answer: Take Starbucks executives on a field trip to the Irvine, Calif., headquarters of World of Warcraft maker Activision Blizzard (ATVI, Tech30). The goal was to expose them to a business model that capitalizes on gaming.

Gillett got approval to start a new business unit, Digital Ventures. The cross between IT and marketing focused solely on improving Starbucks' interaction with customers' devices, like smartphones and laptops.

The result: The company "gamified" the Starbucks experience. Customers can now whip out their smartphones and use a rewards program to rack up points, level up and unlock special abilities -- err, deals. Sound familiar?

The coffee shop chain now considers its "My Starbucks Rewards" program, which boosted sales and customer loyalty, a success.

Related story: Bitcoin Bowl comes to college football

Gillett now plans to take that approach at cybersecurity and antivirus firm Symantec (SYMC, Tech30). He thinks it will start internally -- using games and simulators in the hiring process -- and eventually make its way out to customers. Maybe users will gain points for reporting back software bugs and avoiding bad links.

"I think gamification and the way of thinking about it is applicable to any industry," Gillett said. "Right now we get really good information on malware -- what it does, how it acts. But we have no telemetry on the human part of it -- what people were doing, thinking and believing when they encountered that particular threat."

First Published: June 19, 2014: 9:40 PM ET


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Massachusetts approves $11 minimum wage

massachusetts minimum wage Legislators in the Bay State approved an

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Lawmakers in the Bay State gave final approval on Thursday to legislation that will gradually raise the minimum to $11 an hour by 2017, up from $8 today. Governor Deval Patrick received the bill Thursday evening, said Jesse Mermell, a spokeswoman. He is expected to sign it into law soon.

While Massachusetts is taking the lead among states, the city of Seattle, which recently approved an increase to $15 an hour, still will offer the highest minimum anywhere in the country.

President Obama, who supports a nationwide increase to $10.10, applauded the move, saying Massachusetts "joins a growing coalition of states, cities and counties that are doing (their) part to make sure no American working full-time has to support a family in poverty."

The Massachusetts bill also raised the subminimum base wage for tipped workers to $3.75 from $2.63 currently. While advocates for a higher minimum wage applaud Massachusetts move, they say the increase for tipped workers is subpar.

Compared to other states, which have set higher wage bases for tipped workers, "Massachusetts is a real outlier," said Paul Sonn, general counsel for the National Employment Law Project. If a tipped worker doesn't earn the equivalent of the full minimum wage, after counting both the subminimum base plus tips, employers are supposed to make up the difference. But, Sonn said, "there' s a lot of room for evasion."

Related: What's the minimum wage in your state?

Raising the minimum wage has become a bit of a trend at the state level. Michigan lawmakers also recently approved a phased-in increase to $9.25 by 2018.

Vermont approved a bill last month that raises its minimum wage to $10.50 by 2018 as well, as did Maryland lawmakers, who chose to raise that state's minimum to $10.10.

Lawmakers in Minnesota, Delaware, West Virginia, Connecticut, New York, California and Hawaii have also approved minimum wage hikes this year or last.

At the federal level, however, lawmakers have reached stall speed on the minimum wage issue. Senate Democrats have put forth a proposal to raise the federal minimum to $10.10 an hour, up from $7.25 currently. Even if it passes the Senate, it faces an uphill battle in the House.

CNNMoney's American Dream Poll earlier this month found that 71% of people surveyed favor a hike in the federal minimum wage. And of those, 36% said it should be increased to $10.10 an hour, while 16% said it should be even higher.

--CNN's Kevin Conlon contributed to this report

First Published: June 19, 2014: 10:38 PM ET


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Ay, caramba! Argentina on verge of default

Written By limadu on Kamis, 19 Juni 2014 | 14.45

argentina debt

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The South American nation might not make its next interest payment that's due by July. Time is short, and Argentina is running out of options, especially after a major court ruling earlier this week went in favor of the creditors.

At this point Argentina only has one path: Negotiate with its remaining creditors, including several American hedge funds. That's what the country plans to do, according to reports Wednesday from Reuters and Bloomberg. Argentine officials are expected in New York next week.

Argentina's stock market tumbled a whopping 10% Monday as the default worries escalated, but it has since reversed some of those losses.

How did it get this bad? Back in 2001, Argentina's economy was in serious trouble, and the country defaulted on $93 billion in debt. In the years since, it managed to convince a large contingent of its creditors to take new bonds worth a fraction of the old ones. But some very patient hedge funds, including Elliott Management subsidiary NML Capital, decided to hold out for a fuller payment (they're nicknamed "the holdouts").

Meanwhile, Argentina paid its more agreeable creditors and ignored the holdouts.

Related: Despite risks, investors rush into risky debt

In 2012, Federal Judge Thomas Griesa of New York's southern district ruled that this wouldn't do. He ordered Argentina to turn over $1 billion to the spurned debt investors. Argentina appealed, but the Supreme Court declined to hear the case Monday.

The country's stock market fell 10% after the court decision, although it has rebounded the past two days and is now only 4% down for the week. The country's bonds have not been as lucky: both yields and the cost to insure Argentinian debt have spiked in the wake of the ruling. Yields rise when bond prices fall.

There's a lot riding on this for Argentina. This is "World Economic Cup" kind of pressure. If Argentina messes this up, U.S. investors will be far less likely to loan to the nation, and it needs the money. Annual GDP growth was just 1.4% last quarter, a slow rate for an emerging market economy, and the country had to devalue its currency in January.

Related: Here's some background on how rough things are in Argentina.

Henry Weisburg, a lawyer from firm Shearman & Sterling who specializes in international financial disputes and has been watching the case closely thinks that this week's developments mark the end of Argentina's court wrangling and open the door to other venues.

"I think that period is about to end, and this is going to become a much more political and financial matter," Weisburg said.

First Published: June 18, 2014: 5:34 PM ET


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T-Mobile: Stream all the music you want

tmobile T-Mobile CEO John Legere announced a new program called Music Freedom on Wednesday.

SEATTLE (CNNMoney)

The feisty wireless carrier announced a new program Wednesday that will let users stream music on certain apps without it counting toward monthly network data caps.

T-Mobile is calling the program Music Freedom, and it will initially include Spotify, Pandora, Rhapsody, iTunes Radio, iHeartRadio, Slacker, Samsung Milk and Beatport.

T-Mobile CEO John Legere said at an event in Seattle that 113 million U.S. mobile users now stream music, up from 19 million in 2009. But at present, he added, many users limit their mobile streaming for fear of extra charges when they exceed their monthly data caps.

"It's a pain point, it's a big one, it's a growing one, and we decided not just to step in slightly, but to completely eliminate it forever," Legere said.

T-Mobile (TMUS) has already gotten rid of extra charges for customers who exceed their high-speed data limits, though service does slow down once those limits are passed. With Music Freedom, customers who have exceeded their data limits will still get free high-speed music streaming.

While customers will likely be enthused, T-Mobile's Music Freedom program could draw concern from advocates of net neutrality, the principle that all data online be treated equally by Internet service providers.

The worry is that when certain services get privileged access to customers, established companies could gain a permanent advantage over new competitors.

AT&T announced a similar program earlier this year dubbed "sponsored data," under which content from paying businesses doesn't count against monthly data caps. The Federal Communications Commission is currently working to finalize new net neutrality regulations, though those won't apply to the mobile Internet.

Legere dismissed concerns about Music Freedom's net neutrality implications, saying new services could be quickly included in the program.

T-Mobile chief marketing officer Michael Sievert said the company isn't getting paid by the services participating in Music Freedom.

Related: T-Mobile CEO blasts AT&T and Amazon on Twitter

T-Mobile also announced a new streaming service Wednesday in partnership with Rhapsody called "unRadio" that will cost $5 a month, cheaper than Spotify's mobile service. T-Mobile is also allowing customers to "test drive" its network with an iPhone 5s for seven days free of charge.

The announcements are T-Mobile's latest moves in an ongoing marketing campaign it's dubbed the "un-carrier" strategy.

The goal is to upend the mobile industry, and T-Mobile has been doing that by eliminating contracts, dropping international roaming charges and offering to pay competitors' customers $650 to switch over.

So far, T-Mobile's "uncarrier" push has paid off in the form of increased market share. The company said last month that it added a record 2.4 million subscribers in the first three months of this year, its fourth consecutive quarter with more than 1 million total net additions.

Related: Sprint wants T-Mobile, but don't count on it

But these efforts have come at the cost of narrowing margins and widening losses. T-Mobile finished the first quarter with a loss of $151 million, up from $20 million in the last three months of 2013.

Wednesday's event came a day after the voluble Legere bashed Amazon for lining up AT&T (T, Tech30) as the exclusive service provider for the new Fire Phone.

"The odd thing is, big + bigger = fewer options for customers," Legere tweeted.

But T-Mobile is itself in the process of finalizing a $32 billion merger with Sprint (S), according to reports earlier this month.

If approved by regulators, the deal would unite the nation's third- and fourth-largest carriers into a combined entity with subscriber numbers comparable to industry leaders AT&T and Verizon (VZ, Tech30).

Legere declined to comment on the rumored Sprint merger, though he said T-Mobile's "un-carrier" effort will continue regardless of what happens.

"I believe the competition in the U.S. wireless industry is much better because T-Mobile exists," he said. "In anything we do, it will be about the un-carrier revolution and the T-Mobile company and brand getting bigger and stronger and changing the industry."

First Published: June 18, 2014: 10:57 PM ET


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American Apparel fires controversial CEO

american apparel The board of American Apparel ousted founder Dov Charney on Wednesday.

HONG KONG (CNNMoney)

Charney has been suspended effective immediately, the board said, and the termination will go into effect in 30 days. The board said Charney was removed "for cause."

Board member Allan Mayer said the decision to remove Charney grew out of an ongoing investigation into alleged misconduct.

"We take no joy in this, but the board felt it was the right thing to do," Mayer said in a statement. "Dov Charney created American Apparel, but the company has grown much larger than any one individual and we are confident that its greatest days are still ahead."

A company spokesman declined to provide more details about why Charney had been removed. The board said chief financial officer John Luttrell would serve as interim CEO.

American Apparel (APP) is based in Los Angeles, and is known for its "Made in U.S.A" T-shirts and other basic clothing. Company shares, which topped $15 as recently as 2007, now trade for less than $1.

Charney founded the company in 1998, building an operation that was famous for its sex-infused advertising campaigns and unorthodox business practices.

The CEO faced a series of sexual harassment suits filed by employees in recent years. Others reported that Charney had conducted interviews and company meetings in his underwear.

Charney advocated for immigration reform, and the company put the phrase "legalize L.A." on many of its products. American Apparel would later draw the attention of immigration officials, and was forced to lay off a quarter of its workforce in 2009 after irregularities were found in work documents.

The casual clothing chain survived a steep sales slump and manufacturing problems in 2010. At one point, the company went so far as to warn that it might default on loans and close up shop.

In an interview with Marketplace published in January, Charney was not shy about identifying himself as a source of trouble.

"My biggest weakness is me. I mean, lock me up already! It's obvious! Put me in a cage, I'll be fine," he said. "I'm my own worst enemy. But what can you do? I was born strange."

First Published: June 18, 2014: 11:50 PM ET


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Pope Francis rails against food speculation

Written By limadu on Selasa, 17 Juni 2014 | 14.44

pope francis

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The leader of the Catholic Church chastised investors in food-based commodities markets, especially those who make speculative bets on price movements. The Pope said these types of investors reduce the affordability of food for the poorest families.

He went as far as to call it a "scandal" of our time.

"Advances in technology have increased the speed of financial transactions, but in the long run this is significant only to the extent that it better serves the common good," he said. "In this regard, speculation on food prices is a scandal which seriously compromises access to food on the part of the poorest members of our human family."

Related: Milk demand from Chinese, others boost dairy prices

The position is not a new one for Pope Francis. He similarly railed against food commodity speculation last year in a speech before the Food and Agriculture Organization at the United Nations, and his predecessor Pope Benedict XVI also spoke out about the issue.

This year's remarks came during the Vatican's Investing for the Poor conference, which seeks to highlight ways that investors can make social and environment impacts.

Related: Pope made same denunciations last year

"It is increasingly intolerable that financial markets are shaping the destiny of peoples rather than serving their needs, or that the few derive immense wealth from financial speculation while the many are deeply burdened by the consequences," he said.

The Pope's comments come at an interesting turning point in global commodity markets. Many food prices rose in the past year as droughts and other issues impacted the supply of various crops.

But food prices have been falling in the last month, according to data from the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO). The organization said overall food prices fell by about 1.2% from April to May, with indices for major global food staples all falling further since then.

First Published: June 16, 2014: 5:06 PM ET


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Judge rules against J.C. Penney in Martha Stewart case

martha stewart macys J.C. Penney may have to pay up for striking a deal with Martha Stewart.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

New York Supreme Court Judge Jeffrey Oing called the actions of J.C. Penny's top executives "less than admirable."

"At best, one can only describe such conduct as adolescent hijinks in the worst form," he wrote in the court order.

Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (MSO) has been selling Martha Stewart-branded products at Macy's (M) since 2006. But in 2011 it reached a deal with J.C. Penney (JCP) to start selling some of its products at that retailer as well.

Macy's took both companies to court claiming they violated its own exclusive deal with Stewart's company. It settled with MSLO in January, but the terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Related: Martha Stewart and Macy's settle legal fight

Oing did not rule on how much J.C. Penney may have to pay Macy's for lost profit and attorney fees, deferring that decision to special judicial hearing officer.

J.C. Penney said that it "does not believe that money damages are warranted." It is also considering appealing the ruling.

Meanwhile, a statement from Macy's said the company was "delighted" by the order and looking forward to the damages phase of the case.

Since litigation began, J.C. Penney axed CEO Ron Johnson, who struck the deal with Stewart's company back in 2011, and scaled back its partnership, limiting it to window treatments and hardware, lighting, rugs and holiday products. J.C. Penney also sold its stake of MSLO, for which it paid $38.5 million in 2011.

"Their grand strategy was a colossal and abject retail failure," Oing wrote.

J.C. Penney has suffered massive losses in recent quarters following Johnson's failed turnaround effort.

First Published: June 16, 2014: 7:44 PM ET


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'Flash Boys' in the hot seat

michael lewis

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

It's been just over two months since the "Flash Boys" author dropped a bombshell by arguing that U.S. markets are "rigged" by high-frequency traders (HFT).

That controversial claim is now at the center of countless regulatory probes, a series of lawsuits and intense debate among various people and companies with money in the market.

The debate shifts Tuesday to the U.S. Senate, where lawmakers will pepper industry executives with questions about how high-frequency trading works and whether it is fair. Brad Katsuyama, the hero in Lewis's book, will play a starring role in the hearing.

Related: Michael Lewis says markets are 'rigged'

"Post 'Flash Boys,' the regulatory activity has been buzzing," said Joe Saluzzi, who is a member of a Commodity Futures Trading Commission subcommittee on HFT and co-founder of Themis Trading. "They're going in the right direction."

Despite all the attention on HFT, investors don't seem that worried. The S&P 500 is up about 4% since closing at 1,858 the Friday before the author's memorable "60 Minutes" appearance where he first made the "rigged" comments.

"The current market structure is not fundamentally broken, let alone rigged," Mary Jo White, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, said in a recent speech laying out proposed changes to bolster market structure.

But that doesn't mean there aren't problems. Lewis has accelerated a debate that was underway already.

Related: Could the Flash Crash happen again?

HFT: Fair or foul? Katsuyama, the former RBC Capital (RY) executive and head of an exchange that prohibits high-frequency trading, will continue his assault on the practice at this week's Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations hearing. The purpose of the hearing is to examine "conflicts of interest" in the market, including the role of these ultra-rapid trades.

Lawmakers will likely grill stock exchange executives about their cozy relationships with HFT firms. Regulators are probing whether it's fair for exchanges to give high-speed traders the ability to store their servers at the exchange, right beside the actual serves that handle the exchange's trades.

It comes down to fractions of a second, but it can give HFT traders an edge, especially if they get information before others do.

One of the most outspoken defenders of HFT is BATS Global Markets CEO Joseph Ratterman. He will also testify today and is expect to stress the cheaper transaction costs for all investors and the injection of much-needed liquidity (except for that whole 2010 Flash Crash catastrophe).

Other panelists before the Senate include NYSE President Thomas Farley. His remarks will be closely watched since he may signal a willingness to change the current system. That's because new NYSE owner IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) has argued today's complex market structure has spooked investors.

TD Ameritrade (AMTD) executive Steven Quirk is another panelist. Last week, TD said the brokerage received $236 million last year for so-called "payment for order flow." It was the first time it disclosed the overall figure, although the brokerage did not say who it sold the order flow to. Lawmakers may ask if the practice hurt clients.

The practice of exchanges paying to attract orders from brokers has come under scrutiny in recent months, although the SEC already requires brokerages to periodically inform clients if they receive any money for routing orders to specific places.

Related: Schwab wants to make high-speed trading illegal

Regulators swarm: It's clear regulators have intensified their efforts to probe HFT practices since the release of Lewis' book.

There are active investigations by the SEC and CFTC into the benefits exchanges provide to HFT firms, while the FBI is looking into whether these high-speed traders engaged in insider trading by seizing on information they get before the public does.

But the real fireworks could be set off by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who issued subpoenas to half a dozen HFT firms demanding details on secret arrangements with exchanges and dark pools.

The New York Attorney General is also seeking information from major banks that operate dark pools, which are alternative trading platforms that let investors execute trades anonymously.

"That's the one that is scaring Wall Street," said Saluzzi, citing the vast powers Schneiderman's office has to fight financial fraud thanks to New York's Martin Act. Wall Street "can handle the CFTC and SEC. They cannot handle the NY Attorney General," he said.

"Flash Boys" has also ignited a number of lawsuits, including one ironically led by high-profile attorney Michael Lewis (no relation to the book author). This class-action lawsuit filed in May against NYSE, Nasdaq (NDAQ), BATS and other exchanges alleges they hurt some investors by selling advance access to market data.

The city of Providence, R.I. also filed a lawsuit accusing the exchanges, HFT firms like Virtu Financial and major securities brokers such as Goldman Sachs (GS) of defrauding investors and manipulating markets.

Related: NY Attorney General subpoenas HFT firms

'Surgical' regulation? The SEC has signaled it's taking the concerns about market structure seriously. Earlier this month, White said the agency is developing rules targeting high-speed traders, boosting transparency at dark pools and revising order-routing practices.

While she said the SEC should not "roll back the technology clock," White acknowledged "aggressive, destabilizing trading strategies in vulnerable market conditions" and said she's concerned by the lack of transparency in dark pools.

Saluzzi said the SEC shouldn't try to eradicate HFT or institute thousands of pages of rules like in the Dodd-Frank overhaul. Instead, he said, the SEC needs to take a "surgical" approach that will "erode the incentives" for some of the nefarious aspects of HFT.

"Remove the conflict-of-interest roadblocks so the market can fix itself," he said.

First Published: June 17, 2014: 1:03 AM ET


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Starbucks offers workers 2 years of free college

Written By limadu on Senin, 16 Juni 2014 | 14.44

starbucks inside There's about to be an even greater chance your barista is working his way through college.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The company announced it will offer both full- and part-time employees a generous tuition reimbursement benefit that covers two full years of classes.

The benefit is through a partnership with Arizona State University's online studies program. Employees can choose any of more than 40 undergraduate degrees, and aren't limited to only business classes.

It's yet another unconventional move from the upscale coffee retailer. Starbucks bucked the trend, for example, when it continued offering health insurance for both full- and part-time employees as other companies dialed back offerings and blamed Obamacare.

CEO Howard Schultz, who retook the company's helm in 2008 and turned around the slumping business, has also stood out among his peers for backing a boost in the minimum wage. He has also made bold statements about gun control and Washington political gridlock.

He described the new education initiative in grand terms: rebuilding the American Dream for employees, known as "partners," who are left behind in an economy that requires a degree. At the same time, the cost of education can be prohibitive.

"Supporting our partners' ambitions is the very best investment Starbucks can make," Schultz said in a statement.

Related: Obama promises student loan relief

Starbucks did not release an estimate for how much the program would cost, in part because it does not know how many employees will sign up.

The benefit is equal to about $30,000 per employee, said Starbucks spokesman Jim Olson.

Most of the company's 135,000 U.S. employees are eligible, he said. About 70% of them do not have undergraduate degrees. Those currently pursuing studies at another institution can apply to transfer their credits to Arizona State University.

Employees will not be required to stay with Starbucks after earning their degree.

The university will provide enrollment, financial aid and academic advisers to help students stay with the program, Starbucks said.

Starbucks announced it would roll out the program to employees at a Monday event with Education Secretary Arne Duncan and Arizona State University officials.

First Published: June 15, 2014: 9:15 PM ET


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Medtronic buys Covidien for $42.9 billion

medtronic

HONG KONG (CNNMoney)

Covidien shareholders will be paid $93.22 per share, a 29% premium over the company's closing stock price on Friday.

Medtronic said the combined company will be headquartered in Ireland, where Covidien is based. Medtronic (MDT) had been based in Minneapolis.

The proposed merger is the latest in a series of transactions that have allowed U.S. companies to relocate their headquarters to countries with lower tax rates. Ireland's main tax rate for corporations is 12.5%; the 35% U.S. federal rate is among the highest in the world.

Relocating is not as simple as opening an office in London or Ireland and telling authorities your tax base has changed. The U.S. has blocked this strategy, so a corporate takeover is required.

Other countries that are known for low corporate taxes are Switzerland, Singapore and Luxembourg. Most companies veer away from France because of its historically high taxes.

Related: Has the U.K. become a tax haven?

Health care companies have been particularly aggressive in pursuing so-called inversions. Pfizer (PFE) was the latest high-profile example; it tried to take over the British pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca.

American and French media giants Omnicom (OMC) and Publicis (PGPEF) also planned a mega-merger that would have seen the new firm domiciled in the U.K., though the deal was called off.

The exodus of American companies has spurred a political backlash, and many in Washington are looking at ways to reverse the trend. So far, various proposals in Congress to make it harder for companies to domicile elsewhere have faltered.

Related: Firms warned not to leave U.S. for lower taxes

Medtronic, perhaps in an effort to ward off criticism, announced $10 billion in new U.S. research and development commitments on Sunday.

The deal will also provide a use for billions in profits earned outside the U.S. that Medtronic has kept offshore. The funds would have been taxed at a steep rate if they were returned to the U.S.

Medtronic said the merger would significantly expand its product portfolio, help the company reach new markets and generate significant free cash flow. The deal still faces regulatory approval from multiple agencies and countries, including the U.S., the European Union and China.

First Published: June 15, 2014: 11:13 PM ET


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Russia cuts off natural gas supplies to Ukraine

ukraine russia gas

HONG KONG (CNNMoney)

Representatives from Ukraine, Russia and the European Union held meetings over the weekend in an effort to avert the crisis, but no agreement was reached.

Gazprom said Monday that Ukraine's total debt is $4.5 billion. The state-owned gas firm will now only deliver gas that Ukraine has paid for in advance.

"At this moment no payments for old debt or June were paid," said Gazprom spokesman Sergey Kupriyanov. "All charts show zeroes."

In April, Gazprom hiked the price it charges Ukraine by about 80% to $485.50 per thousand cubic meters of gas. By comparison, Gazprom charged European countries an average of $377.50 per thousand cubic meters in 2013.

"Due to the intentional unilateral refusal by Russia to settle this conflict, Ukraine's and the EU's energy security are being undermined," Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said Friday.

Related: Europe leans more heavily on Russian gas

The gas dispute between Moscow and Kiev has escalated as relations between the two countries have deteriorated.

Europe and the U.S. have imposed sanctions on Russia for its annexation of Crimea, while analysts have accused Russia of using natural gas supplies as a political tool.

In recent weeks, violence has again flared in eastern Ukraine as government forces clashed with pro-Russian militants.

Related: Russia looks to Asia for trade cushion

Europe relies on Russia for more than 30% of its gas, and half of that is pumped through Ukraine. Any significant disruption in supplies to Ukraine could hurt European companies and households.

-- CNN's Matthew Chance and Radina Gigova contributed reporting.

First Published: June 16, 2014: 3:11 AM ET


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Jetblue's answer to first class

Written By limadu on Minggu, 15 Juni 2014 | 14.44

jetblue mint doubleseat

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

That's what Jetblue is hoping to sell to its customers starting Sunday, when the airline launches a new service called "Mint." It will begin with only the New York to Los Angeles route, and will offer the kind of amenities usually seen on international flights.

Billing it "coast-to-coast without the cost," travelers can expect seats that become private suites with a door, food lifted from the menu of a trendy New York City restaurant and tiny bottles of fancy beauty products. There's also a signature cocktail and organic ice cream from a Brooklyn scoop shop, all for about $600 a ticket, each way.

It's not exactly flying behind the first class curtain (there is, in fact, no curtain separating the cabins) but it's close, and built for the everyday business traveler willing to spend a little more.

"I think they can expect a refreshing surprise," said Brad Farmerie, the executive chef of Saxon + Parole, the restaurant behind Mint's food.

He said passengers will be offered options like octopus with truffled portobello mushroom mousse for dinner, and French toast stuffed with banana and homemade Nutella for breakfast.

Related: jetBlue pilots vote to unionize

The beauty company Birchbox will supply the amenities for Mint, with gift boxes filled with products like moisturizers, sunscreens and hair products. Birchbox co-founder and co-CEO Katia Beauchamp said that she hopes the kits will make traveling easier "and more glamorous!"

birchbox There are gift boxes for women, and separate ones for men.

The cost for all this luxury? Seats are currently offered at $599 one way, if booked by next week for travel later this year. A non-refundable economy class ticket taken during a similar time is about $330. All the amenities are included with the ticket price.

JetBlue's new service comes at a time when more and more airlines are building in extravagant options for fliers willing to spend. AirFrance recently announced its new La Première cabin, which has four private suites and will debut in September.

Etihad Airways' A380 offers a one-bedroom "residence" on one of its long-haul planes departing from London, at a cost of $21,000 a ticket.

While all that luxury comes with a hefty price tag, JetBlue's decision to keep things less astronomical may signal a trend that combines the casual with the costly.

Like Virgin Atlantic's rather whimsical new option for its higher-paying passengers -- a onesie pajama bodysuit with feet. The airline dubbed the onesie a "fun alternative" for the first class flier.

First Published: June 14, 2014: 9:17 AM ET


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The death of U.S. savings bonds

extinct savings bonds

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Americans bought over 40 million of the most popular savings bonds in 2000. Last year, the U.S. sold a mere 400,000 of them.

They were often given to students, newly married couples or anyone having a birthday. It was akin to gifting cash, but better. The bond certificate looked extra official, and it encouraged young people to save for the future -- whether for further study, a car or a house.

Savings bonds offer some interest each year -- much like money held in a bank's savings account -- but if you hold the bond to the end of the 10 to 30 year duration, you often make more money due to various adjustment procedures. It's akin to a bonus payment.

But these bonds are going the way of the landline telephone, and there are several reasons why.

For starters, savings bonds, which have been around since the 1930s, are no longer an attractive investment.

Related: Investors chase higher yields in scary places

"The interest rates are so low these days that people just don't even get involved in them anymore," says Jim Moore, a Wells Fargo financial advisor based in St. Louis.

The fixed-rate "EE" bond offers a mere 0.5% interest rate for the next 20 years, barely better than putting money under a mattress. Bonds issued at the end of last year were yielding an even more lousy 0.1% rate.

Moore recommends buying a good quality, high paying dividend stock or exploring other savings options instead. Many parents and grandparents utilize 529 savings plans for colleges that are run at the state level. Investment growth in a 529 plan is tax deferred, and any money taken from the 529 to pay for college isn't taxed at the federal level.

Related: Tax-savvy college savings options

But it's the Internet that really killed off demand for savings bonds.

You can no longer buy a paper savings bond. On January 1, 2012, the government stopped sales of over-the-counter paper bonds and forced people to buy them online via TreasuryDirect.

That's when the big plummet occurred. The goal was to save money, but in the process, the government made it harder for potential buyers.

Many older Americans were raised on ads to be patriotic and buy these bonds to help the country (and yourself). There were slogans such as "Back Your Future." The savings bonds were sold in many places, including local banks and brokerages.

Now you have to go online and fill out cumbersome forms with your taxpayer ID number, the intended recipient's Social Security number, your bank account and other information. It's even more complex if you try to gift a savings bond to someone under 18.

Related: Fewer students have jobs on graduation day

Kate Warne, investment strategist for Edward Jones, says the only time she hears about savings bonds these days is from clients telling her how hard the website is to navigate.

"The complaint I get is 'I have trouble. What should I do instead?'" Warne says.

Those formal looking certificates that made such lovely accompaniments to graduation degrees are history. The only way to get one now is to ask for your federal tax refund to be returned to you as savings bonds.

Even that is convoluted. The bonds are only issued in $50 increments, so unless your refund is perfectly divisible by 50, you get savings bonds plus a check for the difference. It's a small program according to the Treasury Department.

The government has no plans to revive paper savings bond sales. There is a mock certificate people can print out online to wrap up in a box and give as a gift. But that just doesn't have the same appeal.

First Published: June 14, 2014: 9:10 AM ET


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Costa Rica aims to win World Cup ad game

costa rica ad

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Many experts, including Goldman Sachs, predict Costa Rica (and the U.S.) won't make it out of the first round, but the Central American nation has it sights on another goal: Winning the World Cup ad game.

"Essential Costa Rica" is a print and TV ad campaign running in major cities in the U.S., U.K. and Germany during the World Cup. The message is simple: Costa Rica is more than a pretty place to vacation, come invest and partner with us.

Related: Brazil 2014 set to smash TV records

It's a push to shed the country's image as a Banana Republic. Only 6% of the country's GDP is agriculture today, although the sector remains a large employer. The U.S. is its biggest trading partner, accounting for about half of its exports and foreign direct investment.

The country is growing its technology industry and promoting the fact that 16% of its population has college degrees now.

President Solís is a good example. His grandfather had no schooling. His father made it to about high school, and he has a master's degree. Before he was elected president in April, much of his life was spent as a history professor and scholar. He ran as a "third party" candidate.

CNNMoney interviewed President Solís in New York this week. This is an excerpt of the conversation.

Q: Intel (INTC, Tech30) and Bank of America (BAC) recently announced 3,000 job cuts in Costa Rica. What are you doing about it?

Solís: Within one month of taking office, I am here in the United States speaking with investors, those already working in Costa Rica and those who may want to go. As a result, we've been able to get an announcement from Intel that their Mega Lab will be installed in Costa Rica, which is extraordinarily important for us, thus moving us from manufacturing to research and development of new products. I hope this will bring about significant change in how we're seen in the international community.

We also have a VMWare (VMW) announcement saying they are expanding their activities in Costa Rica. I hope this will clear any doubt that may exist regarding the commitment of the new government to the private sector or the conditions of the country for direct investments.

Q: Several analysts cut your GDP forecasts in half. Is that fair?

Solís: This is not what the central bank in Costa Rica is saying. In our estimation and that of the World Bank, we are going to grow at a rate of 3.7% this year. I think it's going to go up, not down. I hope so because this is the best way we can deal with a number of challenges that we have: Fiscal, monetary and other ways.

Related: The world's largest economies

Q: How do you move the Costa Rican economy beyond tourism and agriculture?

Solís: It has happened in the last 25 years. We were an early exporter of coffee to Europe. Now we have more than 250 multi-national companies, especially in manufacturing and services.

We have 14 different free trade agreements -- 50 countries -- with China, North America, Europe, etc. Coffee exports today are only 3% of our goods. Bananas are 7%. Services represent 33%. We have already moved beyond agriculture.

Related: CNN selects Costa Rica as one of the top 11 travel spots for 2014

Q: Your currency the colón has fallen a lot against the dollar in recent months. Will this continue?

Solís: Before the government entered into office, the colón depreciation started to jump in the band system that we have. We're going to keep the bands, but we are going to lower the volatility by flattening the bands. The central bank has enough reserves to prevent this volatility without tampering with the trend -- the slow trend -- towards devaluation, which has been good news for the Costa Rican exporters and the tourism industry. We are almost at the level we were before the crisis.

Q: What would you like to see evolve in your relations with the United States?

Solís: I would like to see the relationship evolve in an official way to move more from security issues related to drugs into talk of the environment, green energy and social development issues. These policies will help prevent violence, including narcotraffic.

Q: A mysterious kidney disease is impacting your agriculture workers. What are you doing about it?

Solís: We are researching the problem to begin with because we don't know where it comes from. We were also asked about arsenic. We're trying to find out what the problem is because it seems to be associated with certain regions.

First Published: June 14, 2014: 9:36 AM ET


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Spanish debt en fuego

Written By limadu on Sabtu, 14 Juni 2014 | 14.44

piigs investing Investors have developed a taste for European PIIGS.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Their economies were in shambles, there were riots in the streets and even talk of ejecting some of these nations from the euro. They were great places to visit, but you didn't want anything to do with their finances.

Now government bonds issued by Spain, Ireland and Italy are in high demand.

Earlier this week, Spain was able to borrow money from investors for 10 years at a lower interest rate than the United States, the world's safest and most stable economy.

Ireland and Italy have also seen their borrowing costs fall to levels that aren't that much higher than what the U.S. government pays.

What gives?

Investors first started venturing back into the European bond market in 2012, after European Central Bank president Mario Draghi pledged to do "whatever it takes" to hold the euro monetary union together.

Draghi has cut interest rates and unleashed a wave of liquidity on the European banking system. Last week, the ECB announced another round of unconventional policy measures and cut its benchmark interest rate to a record low.

Related: Europe steps up fight against deflation

ECB officials are concerned that very low inflation could snuff out Europe's weak recovery. Some investors believe the ECB could begin making broad based asset purchases along the lines of the quantitative easing program pursued by the Federal Reserve.

By contrast, the Fed has been winding down its quantitative easing, or QE, program and many investors expect the US central bank to begin hiking interest rates next year.

"The ECB probably keeps easing longer than the Fed," said Alan Brown, a senior advisor to U.K. asset manager Schroders. "It's possible the ECB will come in with more programs."

But he warned that investors have been "lulled into a false sense of security" by the lack of volatility in the government bond market, which he says "are being influenced by price-insensitive buyers doing their various QE programs."

Based on economic fundamentals, Brown said there's no reason Spanish bond yields should be lower than those of the United States. "In terms of intrinsic values, it doesn't make any sense at all," he said.

Related: ECB considers Fed-style stimulus

The Spanish economy has been recovering since the middle of 2013. In the first quarter of 2014, Spanish GDP grew at the fastest rate since 2008, according to the International Monetary Fund. The IMF expects Spain's economy to grow 0.9% this year, but unemployment remains painfully high.

Meanwhile, the U.S. economy is expected to grow 2.8% this year. At the same time, the U.S. budget deficit has been shrinking. The Congressional Budget Office projects the deficit for 2014 will be $514 billion, or 3% of the size of the U.S. economy.

So why are investors so eager to give their money to Spain, Italy and Ireland?

"Investors are still clearly looking for yield in a world of low interest rates and that desire for carry and income," said Andrew Milligan, head of global strategy at Standard Life Investments in Edinburgh.

With interest rates at such low levels globally, investors have been venturing far and wide in search of assets that provide some sort of yield, or a steady stream of income, above what they have been getting on U.S. Treasury bonds.

Related: Bond investors chase yield in scary places

Spanish, Italian and Irish bonds had fit that bill, up until recently. In addition, the euro has been relatively strong, which offers investors using other currencies an additional incentive.

In a strategy known as the "carry trade," investors had been borrowing dollars at lower interest rates and using them to buy higher yielding assets priced in euros. The carry trade, notes BMO Private Bank chief investment officer Jack Ablin, gave investors "the dual benefit of the incremental yield and beneficial euro appreciation."

Investors also need to consider how European bonds compare to U.S. bonds after inflation, according to Milligan.

The latest reading of the U.S. government's consumer price index showed that inflation increased 2% over the past 12 months. By contrast, inflation in Spain is running at just 0.2%. In Ireland, the rate is 0.4%.

Bonds are very sensitive to inflation because rising prices can severely erode the value of fixed-income investments.

Milligan said his firm has been overweight European bonds for some time. While they are getting more expensive, Milligan still sees value in owning select euro area government debt, given the outlook for continued easy monetary policy.

"Valuations are starting to flash amber, but not red against the backdrop of an ECB which has acted and will need to do more to engineer a sustainable expansion in the European Monetary Union economy," he said.

First Published: June 13, 2014: 2:14 PM ET


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Mickelson's lawyer: He did not trade Clorox shares

mickelson trading Phil Mickelson's attorney says the golfer never owned Clorox stock.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Late last month, law enforcement sources told CNN that a wide-ranging probe was examining stock trades made in Clorox by Mickelson, investor Carl Icahn and a well-known sports bettor, Billy Walters.

But Gregory Craig, Mickelson's high-profile attorney who worked as White House counsel in the Obama administration, said Friday that his client never traded shares of Clorox (CLX). He had no comment beyond that statement.

The sources said the probe involves stock trades made in 2011 after Icahn made an investment in Clorox and announced a takeover bid for the household products maker. The price of the shares shot up 9% the day Icahn's bid became public.

An official close to the matter tells CNN the investigation involving Mickelson, Icahn and Walters is ongoing. The investigation remains a difficult one, made more so after its existence became public through the news reports.

In addition to Clorox, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal reported last month that the investigation also involved trades made by Mickelson and Walters involving Dean Foods. The Times, citing people briefed on the matter, says the FBI, SEC and federal prosecutors are looking into profitable trades made in Dean Foods in 2012.

Related: Insider trading hard to prove

At the time of the initial reports, Mickelson proclaimed his innocence in a statement to CNN but did not give details of his stock trading.

"I have done absolutely nothing wrong," Mickelson said in a statement provided to CNN by his agent. "I have cooperated with the government in this investigation and will continue to do so. I wish I could fully discuss this matter, but under the current circumstances it's just not possible."

Icahn has denied any wrongdoing. Walters' lawyer told the Times that his client hasn't been contacted by authorities about trades.

Mickelson is currently playing in the U.S. Open, which is the only one of golf's four major tournaments he was not won. He has finished second in the Open a record six times, and is the favorite of many fans to win this weekend .

--CNN's Evan Perez and Shimon Prokupecz contributed to this story.

First Published: June 13, 2014: 4:27 PM ET


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