>>>US Close Dow-0,01% S&P-0,03% Nasdaq-0,25%

Closing Market Summary: Stocks Finish Strong Week on Flat Note

The major averages did little to distinguish themselves in the final session of the week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 both ended flat while the Nasdaq underperformed, shedding 0.3%. Today's trading range was limited to just five points in the S&P 500, but that masks the fact the index rested near its flat line for the vast majority of the trading day. It is understandable that some rest was in order after the benchmark index gained 3.4% during the previous six affairs.

Buyers and sellers alike stuck to the sidelines today, but then again, just about everyone elected to forego today's session. On that note, NYSE floor volume totaled a paltry 414 million shares. There was no concerted leadership among individual sectors as two cyclical groups—energy (+0.5%) and materials (+0.2%)—and two defensive sectors—consumer staples (+0.3%) and utilities (+0.2%)—posted gains. The energy sector was powered, in part, by crude oil, which rose 0.8% to $100.31 per barrel. The sector also drew strength from its top-weighted components. Chevron (CVX 125.23, +0.42) and ExxonMobil (XOM 101.51, +0.61) gained 0.3% and 0.6%, respectively. The other commodity-related sector, materials, was kept afloat by steelmakers. The largest steel producer, ArcelorMittal (MT 17.75, +0.42) jumped 2.4% while the broader Market Vectors Steel ETF (SLX 49.71, +0.83) advanced 1.7%. Despite the modest gains in a handful of sectors, the broader market was held in check by the underperformance of its three largest groups as technology (-0.2%), financials (-0.1%), and health care (-0.1%) spent the entire afternoon in the red. Although the major averages ended little changed, the same could not be said for a recent momentum favorite. Twitter (TWTR 63.75, -9.56) plunged 13.0% after Macquarie downgraded the stock to ‘Underperform' from ‘Neutral.' Entering today, shares of Twitter were up 76.4% in December but today's tumbletrimmed its month-to-date advance to 53.4%. Elsewhere, the Treasury market endured a sleepy session as the 10-yr note slipped three ticks with its yield ending just a shade below 3.01%.

There was no data released today and Monday's economic data will be limited to the Pending Home Sales report, which will be released at 10:00 ET. o Nasdaq +37.7% YTD o Russell 2000 +36.7% YTD o S&P 500 +29.1% YTD o DJIA +25.8% YTD

FT : London’s wealthy rush to dig downwards

London’s wealthy rush to dig downwards

Home owners in the wealthiest parts of London are rushing to extend their homes underground before new planning restrictions are brought in next year. The number of planning applications involving basements has risen 80 per cent in 2013 to 1,550 and more than doubled from the 659 lodged in 2011, data from Kensington and Chelsea council show. Underground extensions, or "digdowns", have become popular in expensive parts of the capital as property owners attempt to boost their home’s value, motivated by soaring house prices. But the extensions have proved contentious, generating complaints from neighbours about noise and disruption and fears for the reliability of the construction techniques involved. Although many extensions are relatively modest, there has been a substantial increase in the number of ambitious, large-scale excavations going down several floors and substantially increasing the property’s size. Home owners’ aspirations for the basements have become increasingly grandiose, with swimming pools, gyms, carports, cinemas, extra clothes storage and staff quarters all featuring in planning applications received by K&C. In response to complaints, local councils are now attempting to limit them. Hammersmith and Fulham Council introduced restrictions in 2009, and Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster councils are looking to follow suit. K&C has already begun to impose substantial charges – as much as £800,000 – on home owners seeking permission to dig downwards, and it is set to seek approval from the Planning Inspectorate for its new restrictions by the end of March 2014. The impending changes have triggered a rush to win planning permission before the changes are introduced, according to the council data. In particular, householders with no immediate intention of undertaking construction work are seeking exemptions from any future change in the planning rules, according to Tim Coleridge, K&C council cabinet member for planning policy. K&C’s proposals are facing strong opposition from housing developers, Mr Coleridge said. As a result the council has delayed seeking approval for its plans in order to ensure they are legally watertight. "The big basement-digging companies put in a huge amount of opposing evidence and as a result we are now re-drawing our submission [to the inspectorate]." Mr Coleridge said the cost of buying and selling houses was a key factor driving the rise in underground extensions. "If the chancellor would be kind enough to remove the 7 per cent stamp duty tax [on homes over £2m], that would probably persuade a fair few people to move house rather than digging down to extend," he said. "We are not stopping people who want to live in a more modern way from doing so but if you want a bigger house, go and buy one rather than doubling the size by digging down." Prices in Kensington & Chelsea have risen by nearly 10 per cent in the past year, boosted by demand from foreign buyers. The borough is home to some of the most expensive streets for buying a home in England and Wales.

FT : Twitter ready to spread its wings as a profitable business

Twitter ready to spread its wings as a profitable business

Twitter has undergone a makeover in the weeks since it went public, primping and preening the messaging platform in an attempt to lure millions more users and help to win its first billion in advertising dollars.
The home of the 140-character message, which listed in New York in November, has been busy revamping as it attempts to grow from a globally known website into a large, profitable business.

Shares in the social network, which tried to keep a cap on the price in the run-up to the initial public offering, have since soared to more than double the flotation price of $26.
With revenues for the full year forecast to be about $600m, many analysts have said the valuation gives the company a lot to live up to. Some who are optimistic about Twitter’s long-term prospects have still downgraded the stock based on the hefty price tag.
Brian Wieser, an analyst at Pivotal Research, praised the work the company has been doing, from simplifying the user experience to giving advertisers more tools to target specific interest groups.
“Everything they are doing is great,” he said. “But they are still such an early stage company in so many ways it is difficult to assess . . . it is anyone’s guess whether they will have 100 per cent growth, 150 per cent growth or only 75 per cent growth.”
Mr Wieser, who has a “sell” rating on the stock, says he likes the company but feels it is overvalued, puzzling over a recent 40 per cent rise in the shares since the start of December.
Twitter has been taking steps to reverse a slowdown in user growth and reach far beyond the 230m monthly active users: from trying to win over the chat app-obsessed by allowing users to privately send each other photos, to signing deals to help emerging market users without smartphones to participate in the discussions via text message.


A mobile app redesign launched this month makes it easier to discover more content, as Twitter tries to make it easier for new users to find news and entertainment without getting lost in a maze of hashtags and @ signs.
Twitter has also been rapidly expanding how advertisers can use the platform, as despite being more than seven years old, it only started showing ads – in the form of promoted tweets in users’ timelines – in 2010. Recent changes allow advertisers to target users based on their preferences on other sites and making it easier to advertise based on synonyms of keywords.
After stressing what a powerful partner it could be to TV advertising during the IPO roadshow, the company has signed a flurry of deals with more networks. The “See it” button which allows users to tune in to a TV show, record an episode or set a reminder for when a programme starts, can now be used on ABC, AMC and Fox.
The company has also been working to integrate MoPub, the mobile advertising exchange, which was its largest ever acquisition and it is hoped that this will enable Twitter to use the data it knows about people’s interests and connections to serve adverts on other sites.
Since joining Twitter around the time of the IPO, MoPub has created an advertising product that provides a template to ensure mobile adverts fit an app’s look and feel. Twitter will use its experience at the forefront of so-called “native advertising”, which its promoted tweets are a prime example of, to sell similar products to thousands of mobile-app publishers.

(TEL) Young Users See Facebook as 'Dead And Buried'

TWTR was up 4.8% yesterday in heavy volume...82.5mil shares yesterday...we should continue to see more switch from FB to TWTR as we see less and less interest in FB...
Young Users See Facebook as 'Dead And Buried'
2013-12-27 13:37:29.937 GMT

 
Matthew Sparkes
     Dec. 27 (Telegraph) -- A study of how teenagers in eight
countries use social media has found that Facebook is “not just
on the slide, it is basically dead and buried”, but that it is
morphing into a service to keep in touch with older family
members
     A study of how teenagers in eight countries use social media
has found that Facebook is “not just on the slide, it is
basically dead and buried”.
     Professor Daniel Miller of University College London said in
a blog post: “Mostly they feel embarrassed even to be associated
with it.
     “This year marked the start of what looks likely to be a
sustained decline of what had been the most pervasive of all
social networking sites. Young people are turning away in their
droves and adopting other social networks instead, while the
worst people of all, their parents, continue to use the service.
     “Where once parents worried about their children joining
Facebook, the children now say it is their family that insists
they stay there to post about their lives. Parents have worked
out how to use the site and see it as a way for the family to
remain connected. In response, the young are moving on to cooler
things.
     “What appears to be the most seminal moment in a young
person’s decision to leave Facebook was surely that dreaded day
your mum sends you a friend request.”
     The study, which was funded by the European Union, studied
16 to 18-year-olds in eight countries and found that Facebook use
was in freefall. Instead, young people are turning to simpler
services like Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and WhatsApp which
professor Miller conceded were “no match” for Facebook in terms
of functionality.

-0- Dec/27/2013 13:37 GMT

WSJ : China to Blacklist Health Firms Implicated in Bribery (GSK )

China to Blacklist Health Firms Implicated in Bribery
Listed Companies to Be Barred for Two Years From Selling in the Relevant Province

BEIJING—China's health regulators are rolling out a corporate blacklist for drug and medical-device companies implicated in commercial bribery, a move aimed at stamping out corruption in the country's graft-ridden health-care sector.
Beginning in March, the National Health and Family Planning Commission will publish on its website a record of medical-related manufacturers, agencies and individuals charged with bribery by courts, sued, punished or investigated for bribery, the commission said in a statement on its website Friday. The statement also said that the agency reserved the right to place any company on the list for legal and regulatory violations.
Listed companies will be barred for two years from selling their products within the province in which they are implicated, the statement said. It said companies can apply as usual to sell their products in other provinces but will be at a disadvantage.Companies listed twice in a five-year period will be banned nationally for two years, the statement said.
The developments come amid a heightened state of scrutiny of China's health-care industry.
The Ministry of Public Security in July accused U.K. drug company GlaxoSmithKlineGSK.LN +1.35% PLC of bribing doctors, hospitals and government officials in an effort to sell more drugs at higher prices. Glaxo has said it appears some of its managers in China might have broken the law, and says it is cooperating with the probe.
French food giant Danone SA's baby-food arm Dumex Baby Food Co. announced in October it would overhaul management and marketing at its infant formula business in China following allegations by the official China Central Television that it paid hospital staff to use its products and boost sales.
The health commission's list will show details such as the name, address and legal representative of bribery-connected manufacturers or individuals, as well as information on their alleged crimes, the statement said. It also said regional health departments will be required to report companies to central authorities within a month of any alleged offense.
Medical companies have in recent years flocked to the Chinese market, where a health-care overhaul has expanded access to services and boosted demand for pharmaceuticals and medical devices. The country's health-care spending is expected to triple to $1 trillion by 2020 from $357 billion in 2011, according to consulting firm McKinsey & Co.
Yet the country's hospital system, underfunded and strained, has historically been plagued by kickbacks and ripe for corruption. Doctors are widely seen as underpaid, which makes them prime recipients of honorariums, which are legal, or illegal cuts of sales from drug companies, industry insiders say.
Health-care companies typically sell through multiple layers of distributors that are difficult to oversee, industry players say.

>>> US Gapping down

Gapping down

In the news: TKC -3.7% (weakness in overseas trading), SID -3.1% and IRE -1.7% (still checking), LNKD -1.1% (pulling back with TWTR), TXTR -1% (following 6+ point drop on Citron report).

A few China internet related names are trading lower: SOHU -2.1%, WUBA -1.2% (after +14% move higher), BIDU -0.6%

Analyst comments: TWTR -1.9% (following 3+ point move higher; downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Macquarie)

(BFW) Erdogan’s Son Said to Be Summoned in Corruption Probe: Radikal

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Erdogan’s Son Said to Be Summoned in Corruption Probe: Radikal 2013-12-27 12:15:40.986 GMT

By Bloomberg News Dec. 27 (Bloomberg) -- A prosecutor prepared a summons calling Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s son as a suspect in a probe into graft, according to a scanned copy of a document published by Radikal newspaper. * Necmettin Bilal Erdogan was to be called to the prosecutor’s office in Istanbul on Jan. 2 to testify as suspect on charges of “establishing and being a member of a criminal organization with the aim of profit,” according to the document, dated Dec. 25 and published in Radikal and other local media today * Telephone calls to the prosecutor’s office in Istanbul and the prime minister’s office in Ankara seeking verification went unanswered today * TURGEV, a charity on which Bilal Erdogan is a board member along with other members of the Erdogan family, said it wasn’t speaking to press when reached by telephone today * An official at Erdogan’s office who asked not to be named, citing the sensitivity of the matter, declined to comment and said to wait for Erdogan’s comments today * Document was signed by prosecutor Muammer Akkas, who issued a statement yday saying his work was being obstructed, police were refusing search and detention orders from the judiciary, and that he’d been removed from the case * The suspect may be brought to the prosecutor’s office by force if he refused to heed the call, document says * NOTE: Erdogan said the corruption probe was targeting him through his son, according to Milliyet newspaper on Dec. 26; link: NSN MYEMSE6S972B <GO> * NOTE: Radikal link: {http://bit.ly/1jOJyis}

For Related News and Information: Turkey Prosecutor Says Government Obstructing Graft Probe NSN MYGHAR6TTDSV <GO> First Word scrolling panel: FIRST<GO> First Word newswire: NH BFW<GO>

--Benjamin Harvey. Editors: Benjamin Harvey, Heather Harris

To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Benjamin Harvey in Istanbul at +90-212-317-3901 or bharvey11@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at +971-4-364-1057 or barden@bloomberg.net