Traumatic market week ends with gains
NEW YORK, Sept. 23 (UPI) -- The Dow Jones industrial average went from skidding to slightly higher Friday ending another traumatic week on Wall Street on an up note.
With the volume higher on discussions of a second global recession, the Shanghai composite index in China dropped 0.41 percent while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong lost 1.36 percent. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index shed 2.07 percent, dropping 180.90 points to 8,560.26.
In Europe, markets found some traction with early losses evaporating. The CAC 40 in France gained 1 percent while the DAX 30 in Germany rose 0.63 percent. In Britain, the FTSE 100 index added 0.5 percent, 25.20 points, to 5,066.81.
Gains followed sharp losses Thursday when many markets in Europe gave up more than 4 percent.
The latest retreat was triggered by the U.S. Federal Reserve's dour assessment of the economy that was released along with an announcement the Fed would shift $400 billion in short-term securities to long-term notes, a move meant to keep lending rates low for years.
Long-term borrowing was expected to be cheered by businesses. But investors concluded the move was far from strong enough to right a floundering recovery also burdened by sovereign debt problems in Europe.
By close of trading Friday, the Dow Jones industrial average added 37.65 points or 0.35 percent to 10,771.48.
The index closed off 738 points or 6.4 percent for the week.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 6.87 points or 0.61 percent to 1,136.43. The Nasdaq composite index turned around early losses to climb 27.56 points or 1.12 percent to 2,483.23.
On the New York Stock Exchange, 1,908 stocks advanced and 1,115 declined on a volume of 4.5 billion shares traded.
The benchmark 10-year treasury note fell 32/32 to yield 1.832 percent.
The euro rose to $1.3509 from Thursday's $1.3463. Against the yen, the dollar rose to 76.67 yen from Thursday's at 76.24 yen.
IMF's Lagarde calls for unity
WASHINGTON, Sept. 23 (UPI) -- International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde said in Washington the global community must "act together" to thwart economic perils.
"We need to act now, and we need to act together," she said, addressing finance leaders gathered for a weekend meeting at the IMF and World Bank, both of which have their headquarters in the U.S. capital.
Lagarde, the former French finance minister, who took over the IMF from French politician Dominique Strauss-Kahn two months ago, quoted a third French citizen, the 19th century writer Victor Hugo, in her opening remarks.
"As Victor Hugo once said: 'Great perils have this beauty, that they bring to light the fraternity of strangers,'" Lagarde said.
She said the pace of growth in the global economy was faltering, projected by the IMF to "slow to 4 percent this year and next."
"But the advanced economies will only manage an anemic 1.5 percent to 2 percent growth," she said. "Policy options have narrowed, but that does not mean there are no options."
She called for accommodative monetary policy, which refers to policies that keep liquidity in financial markets and strengthening banks, "so that they can lend to fuel growth and adequately face uncertain times with confidence."
In addition, she called for "stronger consistent and implementable financial regulation … to make financial crisis less likely and to make taxpayer bailouts of reckless operators less likely still."
At HP, why Whitman; why now?
SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 23 (UPI) -- Meg Whitman, the new head executive at Hewlett Packard, said she agreed with the strategy put together by her predecessor at the California computer giant.
Whitman replaced Leo Apotheker, who was fired abruptly Thursday, but given a severance package valued at $10 million to $12 million after 11 months of leading the company, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
He was fired because he did not share his vision well beyond a small circle of advisers, the Journal reported.
He also led the acquisition of British software firm Autonomy Corp., a $10 billion purchase made after telling shareholders he would not buy anything that would cause them to lose sleep.
Whitman said in an interview, "We're going to get to ground on this as fast as we can," referring to a review of the firm's personal computer business, which it may or may not spin off into a separate company.
"I think the strategy is right," Whitman said.
That left Executive Chairman Ray Lane to defend the sudden shift -- exchanging one chief executive for another who cost about $11 to dismiss, while replacing him with a new CEO who, as the former CEO of eBay, has no experience in manufacturing.
Essentially, it came down to communication, Lane said.
"We didn't see an executive team working on the same page or working together."
"A leader is a leader. Meg is a leader," he added.
Blockbuster launches Movie Pass
SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 23 (UPI) -- U.S. movie house Blockbuster said Friday it is launching a new streaming service called Blockbuster Movie Pass.
At a news event called "A Stream Come True" in San Francisco, the rental giant that has dramatically cut back on its brick-and-mortar stores in the past year said there would be 3,000 titles available if the movies are viewed on the television and 4,000 if they are viewed on the computer, TechCrunch reported Friday.
Media have quickly dubbed the service Dish Network's answer to Netflix. Dish Network purchased Blockbuster earlier this year for $228 million.
At that time, Blockbuster was struggling to keep up with the DVD mailing business at Netflix and kiosk-oriented Redbox Video, both of which had far smaller overhead costs.
The industry is already shifting gears again, turning toward downloading or streaming movies from the Internet.
That shift has already tripped up Netflix, which said it would break in to two companies -- a mail-order business and a streaming business -- because a shift in pricing caused by juggling two services at once confused and angered many of its customers.
Both Blockbuster and Dish Network have previously attempted to launch streaming services, making Movie Pass, essentially, a sequel.
In 2008, Blockbuster gave streaming a try with On Demand, which it still operates. Dish Network has also given streaming a shot in the past.
TechCrunch said Blockbuster's DVD mailing service, a rival to Qwikster at Netflix, offers 100,000 titles, meaning its streaming service has some catching up to do regarding its available titles.
