WSJ : House, Senate Negotiators Set to Announce Budget Deal

House, Senate Negotiators Set to Announce Budget Deal *Rep. Ryan Says He and Sen. Murray Have "Reached an Agreement" on Federal Budget

*Ryan: Deal Will Avoid Government Shutdown In 2014

*Ryan: Deal Reduces Deficit, Does Not Raise Taxes

*Ryan and Murray Are Budget Chairs in the U.S. House and Senate

*Sen. Murray: Deal Rolls Back Some Sequester Cuts to Military and Other Programs in 2014, 2015

*Sen. Murray: House to Vote on Budget Deal First, Followed by Senate

(UPDATE TO COME)

House and Senate negotiators are on the verge of announcing a budget agreement that would avert a government shutdown and bring a rare dose of stability to Congress's fiscal policy-making over the next two years, according to lawmakers briefed on the negotiations.

Sen. Patty Murray (D., Wash.) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) worked through the day Tuesday to put the finishing touches on a two-year budget agreement and briefed colleagues on the broad outlines of the emerging deal.

Senate Democrats who met midday with Ms. Murray said the deal's announcement was imminent. Negotiators aim to bring the bill to the House for a vote before week's end, when the House is scheduled to adjourn for the year. A Senate vote likely would follow next week.

The goal of the Murray-Ryan talks has been to find a way to ease the next round of across-the-board spending cuts, which are slated to reduce the budget for most domestic and defense programs to $967 billion in 2014, down from $986 billion in 2013.

The deal is expected to raise that budget target to about $1 trillion in 2014 and 2015. But to keep that from increasing the deficit over the long term, the deal calls for offsetting the increased spending by raising government fees and cutting spending in other parts of the budget, such as on federal employee pensions.

The agreement is expected to include an increase in fees charged to airline passengers, higher premiums that employers pay to guarantee pensions through the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation, as well as a requirement that federal employees pay larger contributions to their pension plans.

>>> US Close Dow-0,33% S&P-0,32% Nasdaq-0,20%

Closing Market Summary: Russell 2000 Leads Stocks Lower

The major averages spent the entire session in a steady downtrend, but despite persistent selling pressure, today's losses were limited in scope. TheDow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq shed between 0.2% and 0.3% while the Russell 2000 lagged, falling 0.9%. The underperformance of the Russell 2000 was likely owed in part to tax-loss selling, which tends to pick up this time of year. Small-caps often feel that pinch in a stronger fashion than large-cap issues since individual retail investors factor more prominently in the behavior of small-cap stocks. Large-cap stocks, on the other hand, have a stronger institutional shareholder base that may be less sensitive to the timing of tax-loss harvesting at year-end due to being tax exempt or having different taxable years.

U.S. equities began the session with modest losses, tracking the performance of their European counterparts. An early bid lifted the Nasdaq and S&P 500 briefly into positive territory, but a second round of selling into the European close pushed the indices back into the red where they spent the remainder of the session. Countercyclical sectors lagged throughout the day with consumer staples and health care falling 0.9% and 0.4%, respectively. The health care space was pressured by biotechnology as the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 219.64, -1.85) lost 0.8%. Meanwhile, the other two defensively-geared sectors—telecom services (-0.8%) and utilities (-1.0%)—ended at the bottom of the leaderboard. Things looked a bit different on the cyclical side where all six groups finished in-line or ahead of the broader market. However, only materials (+0.3%) and discretionary shares (+0.1%) were able to register gains.

The materials sector received significant support from miners. The Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX 22.03, +0.82) jumped 3.9% as gold futures advanced 2.3% to $1262.00 per troy ounce. Elsewhere, the discretionary space drew strength from momentum names as Amazon.com (AMZN 387.78, +2.89), eBay (EBAY 51.92, +0.23), and Netflix (NFLX 363.10, +7.43) gained between 0.4% and 2.1%. Also of note, financials settled in-line with the broader market even as Goldman Sachs (GS 169.73, +2.06) outperformed with a gain of 1.2%. It is worth mentioning that the Volcker Rule received clearance from all five regulatory agencies today, but CFTC Commissioner Bart Chilton said the Rule is unlikely to be implemented before 2015. Treasuries climbed throughout the day with the 10-yr yield falling five basis points to 2.80%. Trading volume was well below average as only 619 million shares changed hands on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. In today's economic data, wholesale inventories increased 1.4% in October after increasing an upwardly revised 0.5% (from 0.4%) in September. The consensus expected wholesale inventories to increase 0.3%. The increase in inventories followed a sizable gain in overall inventories in the third quarter. It was expected that inventory growth would slow considerably throughout the fourth quarter. Durable inventories increased 0.4% in October. Big gains in autos (2.7%) and furniture (1.3%) offset declines in computer (-5.7%) and professional (-1.4%) equipment. Meanwhile, nondurable inventories increased 3.0% in October, up from a 1.4% September gain. Almost two-thirds of the increase in nondurable goods inventories was the result of a 17.0% increase in farm product inventories. Separately, the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey came in at 3.925 million, which follows the prior reading of 3.913 million.

Tomorrow, the weekly MBA Mortgage Index will be released at 7:00 ET and the November Treasury Budget will cross the wires at 14:00 ET.

o Nasdaq +34.5% YTD o Russell 2000 +31.8% YTD o S&P 500 +26.4% YTD o DJIA +21.9% YTD

(BFW) Fininvest Says Accelerated Bookbuilding for 5.6% of Mediolanum

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BFW 12/10 16:57 *FININVEST SELLING 5.6% OF MEDIOLANUM IN BOOKBUILDING BN 12/10 16:56 *FININVEST SAYS MEDIOLANUM STOCK SALE TO STRENGTHEN FINANCES BN 12/10 16:56 *FININVEST SAYS UNICREDIT MANAGING MEDIOLANUM STOCK SALE BN 12/10 16:55 *FININVEST SAYS BOOKBUILDING FOR 5.6% OF MEDIOLANUM BN 12/10 16:55 *FININVEST SAYS ACCELERATED BOOKBUILDING FOR MEDIOLANUM STAKE

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Fininvest Says Accelerated Bookbuilding for 5.6% of Mediolanum 2013-12-10 17:01:41.555 GMT

By Dan Liefgreen Dec. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Berlusconi family’s investment co. Fininvest will use proceeds from Mediolanum stock sale to strengthen finances, according to stock-exchange statement. * UniCredit managing stock sale: statement * Fininvest owns 35.7% of Mediolanum: statement

Link to Statement:{NSN MXLOAC3PR6RK <GO>} Link to Company News:{1009Z IM <Equity> CN <GO>} Link to Company News:{MED IM <Equity> CN <GO>}

For Related News and Information: First Word scrolling panel: {FIRST<GO>} First Word newswire: {NH BFW<GO>}

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dan Liefgreen at +39-02-8064-4204 or dliefgreen@bloomberg.net

>>> BPOST - ABB

39.3m shares / clean up trade for CVC / EUR600m block / range EUR14.75 to market => -3.2% discount vs. ref price / 17.8% of the ISC / 120x ADV / UBS joint books (prob with Nomura and JPM, Global Cos of the IPO)

(BFW) *VODAFONE SEES COMPLETION OF VERIZON TRANSACTIONS ON FEB 21

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BN 12/10 16:25 *VODAFONE SEES `RETURN OF VALUE' PAYOUT FROM VZ DEAL ON MARCH 4 BN 12/10 16:25 *VODAFONE SAYS VERIZON SHARES ISSUED TO SHAREHOLDERS FROM FEB 24 BN 12/10 16:25 *VODAFONE MADE COMMENT IN E-MAILED STATEMENT BN 12/10 16:25 *VODAFONE SEES COMPLETION OF VERIZON TRANSACTIONS ON FEB 21

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*VODAFONE SEES COMPLETION OF VERIZON TRANSACTIONS ON FEB 21 2013-12-10 16:25:44.238 GMT

--JULIE ALNWICK

-0- Dec/10/2013 16:25 GMT

>>> S&P issues report on US credit cycle, feels it may reached a cyclical peak

S&P issues report on US credit cycle, feels it may reached a cyclical peak
- S&P: we anticipate a mostly stable ratings outlook in 2014, though it is more likely that we could downgrade select banks, rather than upgrade

- S&P: In our view, three main factors will shape the banking industry's financial performance next year"The first is any signs from the Federal Reserve about how quickly it will begin tapering its bond purchases, as well as the outlook for monetary tightening. Second, the U.S. economic outlook remains soft, and very low interest rates suggest that revenue pressures for banks will persist. And finally, while the global credit cycle is not in sync across all regions, we
believe the U.S. credit cycle should peak in late 2014 or early 2015."

(BFW) *LVMH MOET HENNESSY LOUIS VUITTON SA RAISED TO A+ FROM A BY S&P

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BN 12/10 15:05 *LVMH MOET HENNESSY LOUIS VUITTON SA OUTLOOK STABLE BY S&P BN 12/10 15:05 *LVMH MOET HENNESSY LOUIS VUITTON SA RAISED TO A+ FROM A BY S&P

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*LVMH MOET HENNESSY LOUIS VUITTON SA RAISED TO A+ FROM A BY S&P 2013-12-10 15:05:49.426 GMT

--JULIE ALNWICK

-0- Dec/10/2013 15:05 GMT

WSJ : Investors Should Warm Up to Moncler

Investors Should Warm Up to Moncler

Moncler wants to join an elite group of companies that sport valuations as luxurious as their products. Investors will probably welcome it to the club.
The Italian company, known for down jackets with an Alps-chic look, plans an initial public offering of shares that are set to begin trading in Milan on December 16. Assuming earnings grow 25% next year, around the recent average, the stock will have a multiple of 20 times forward earnings if it prices at the top of its range, valuing the company at about €2.5 billion.
For the stock to rise further, investors need to find Moncler's business as appealing as other single-brand luxury companies frequently rumored to be takeover targets. Leatherwear company Salvatore Ferragamo SpA, for instance, trades at 28 times consensus forward earnings and rival Tod's SpA commands a multiple of 22.2 times.
One attribute Moncler shares with Ferragamo and Tod's is an impressive growth outlook. Assuming Moncler continues to add about 20 stores a year and maintains a respectable performance at existing locations, it should easily achieve double-digit percentage sales growth for the next few years.
Indeed, Moncler has proven able to open stores even in locations that rarely see cold weather, such as Sao Paulo and Taipei. And the company has a long way to go in other major luxury markets like the U.S., where it only generates about 10% of its sales.
Another advantage for Moncler is that it has few direct competitors. Many of the company's down jackets sell for $2,000 or more. While some luxury companies like Brunello Cucinelli offer such "puffer" jackets at similar prices, none are as focused on style as Moncler.
Moncler's strong brand should also help it diversify further into accessories like gloves and scarves. Jackets currently account for about 85% of revenue, suggesting the company is still in the early stages of developing new products.
Skeptics may argue that Moncler is vulnerable to warm winters, much like a ski resort that depends on snowfall. True, that may add some volatility to stock. But only a consistent and significant increase in temperatures should imperil long-term sales, causing angst to investors and environmentalists alike.
With so much potential to grow over the next several years, and takeover talk around bite-sized luxury names likely to persist, investors are likely to warm up to Moncler in a hurry.