>>> WTI Crude Drops to Lowest Level Since April 2009 After FOMC

WTI Crude Drops to Lowest Level Since April 2009 After FOMC

Front-month WTI crude tumbles to least since April 2009, Brent drops to intraday low after Fed maintains pledge to be “ patient” on raising interest rates.
  • FOMC also says timing of rate moves to depend on data
  • Front-month WTI -$1.94 to $44.29/bbl at 223pm on Nymex, poised for lowest settlement since March 2009; intraday low $44.08
  • Front-month Brent -$1.16 to $48.44/bbl on ICE; low $48.29

>>> Fed releases FOMC statement

Fed releases FOMC statement

Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in December suggests that economic activity has been expanding at a solid pace. Labor market conditions have improved further, with strong job gains and a lower unemployment rate. On balance, a range of labor market indicators suggests that underutilization of labor resources continues to diminish. Household spending is rising moderately; recent declines in energy prices have boosted household purchasing power. Business fixed investment is advancing, while the recovery in the housing sector remains slow. Inflation has declined further below the Committee's longer-run objective, largely reflecting declines in energy prices. Market-based measures of inflation compensation have declined substantially in recent months; survey-based measures of longer-term inflation expectations have remained stable.

Consistent with its statutory mandate, the Committee seeks to foster maximum employment and price stability. The Committee expects that, with appropriate policy accommodation, economic activity will expand at a moderate pace, with labor market indicators continuing to move toward levels the Committee judges consistent with its dual mandate. The Committee continues to see the risks to the outlook for economic activity and the labor market as nearly balanced. Inflation is anticipated to decline further in the near term, but the Committee expects inflation to rise gradually toward 2 percent over the medium term as the labor market improves further and the transitory effects of lower energy prices and other factors dissipate. The Committee continues to monitor inflation developments closely.

To support continued progress toward maximum employment and price stability, the Committee today reaffirmed its view that the current 0 to 1/4 percent target range for the federal funds rate remains appropriate. In determining how long to maintain this target range, the Committee will assess progress--both realized and expected--toward its objectives of maximum employment and 2 percent inflation. This assessment will take into account a wide range of information, including measures of labor market conditions, indicators of inflation pressures and inflation expectations, and readings on financial and international developments. Based on its current assessment, the Committee judges that it can be patient in beginning to normalize the stance of monetary policy. However, if incoming information indicates faster progress toward the Committee's employment and inflation objectives than the Committee now expects, then increases in the target range for the federal funds rate are likely to occur sooner than currently anticipated. Conversely, if progress proves slower than expected, then increases in the target range are likely to occur later than currently anticipated.

The Committee is maintaining its existing policy of reinvesting principal payments from its holdings of agency debt and agency mortgage-backed securities in agency mortgage-backed securities and of rolling over maturing Treasury securities at auction. This policy, by keeping the Committee's holdings of longer-term securities at sizable levels, should help maintain accommodative financial conditions.

When the Committee decides to begin to remove policy accommodation, it will take a balanced approach consistent with its longer-run goals of maximum employment and inflation of 2 percent. The Committee currently anticipates that, even after employment and inflation are near mandate-consistent levels, economic conditions may, for some time, warrant keeping the target federal funds rate below levels the Committee views as normal in the longer run.

Voting for the FOMC monetary policy action were: Janet L. Yellen, Chair; William C. Dudley, Vice Chairman; Lael Brainard; Charles L. Evans; Stanley Fischer; Jeffrey M. Lacker; Dennis P. Lockhart; Jerome H. Powell; Daniel K. Tarullo; and John C. Williams.

(BFW) *CARL ICAHN SAYS APPLE SHOULD DO A DUTCH TENDER


BFW 01/28 17:48 *ICAHN TO CNBC ’WISHES HAD BOUGHT MORE’ OF NETFLIX STOCK
BN 01/28 17:48 *ICAHN TO CNBC 'WISHES HAD BOUGHT MORE' OF NETFLIX STOCK
BN 01/28 17:45 *CARL ICAHN SAYS APPLE SHOULD DO A DUTCH TENDER
BN 01/28 17:44 *ICAHN TELLS CNBC 'DOES NOT MICRO MANAGE' APPLE
BN 01/28 17:41 *ICAHN TELLS CNBC 'APPLE IS ONE OF BEST BUYS IN DECADES'
BN 01/28 17:36 *ICAHN SAYS ONLY CRITICISM APPLE DOESN'T DO BIGGER BUYBACK:CNBC
BN 01/28 17:33 *ICAHN TELLS CNBC THINKS 'VERY HIGHLY' OF TIM COOK
BN 01/28 17:32 *ICAHN TO CNBC WILL REVISE GUIDANCE ON APPLE STOCK
BN 01/28 17:30 *CARL ICAHN BEGINS TO SPEAK IN INTERVIEW ON CNBC
*CARL ICAHN SAYS APPLE SHOULD DO A DUTCH TENDER
2015-01-28 17:46:26.837 GMT

--ANDREW CINKO

-0- Jan/28/2015 17:46 GMT

NY Post : PepsiCo CEO feeling the heat to develop succession plan

Nelson Peltz plans to pressure PepsiCo as soon as this summer to have CEO Indra Nooyi develop a plan of succession, The Post has learned.
Peltz, whose Trian Partners owns 1.2 percent of PepsiCo, on Jan. 16 announced a deal with the soft drink and snacks giant that put his adviser — former H.J. Heinz CEO William Johnson — on the PepsiCo board in exchange for agreeing not to launch a proxy fight.
While that move has been interpreted in some precincts as the two sides reaching a truce, one person close to the situation told The Post that is not the case.
Johnson, once he joins the board in March, will push quickly for changes, the person said.
“It’s not a truce,” the source said. “[Peltz] wants major changes at PepsiCo to unfold this summer.”
Nooyi has led PepsiCo for eight years and there is currently no clear CEO-in-waiting, the source said.
If Peltz’s pressure plan works, he would then be able to help select as Nooyi’s successor someone more open to splitting the company’s Frito-Lay snacks and soda businesses — a cause for which Peltz has fought unsuccessfully for the last few years.
Even company insiders who oppose Peltz’s plan to split snacks and soft drinks agree the $148 billion company needs a succession plan, sources said.
“In my view, there is no heir apparent to Nooyi,” a source close to PepsiCo said.
The PepsiCo board in 2011 and early 2012 successfully pressured Nooyi to set up a succession plan at a time the company was falling further behind archrival Coca-Cola.
Toward that end, PepsiCo in March 2012 hired Sam’s Club chief Brian Cornell. But Cornell exited in August to became chairman and CEO of Target.
A second possible successor, Zein Abdalla, the boss of PepsiCo’s Europe operation, retired on Dec. 31.
CFO Hugh Johnston — who is closest of all the senior executives to Nooyi — is not considered a strong candidate, the source close to the company said.
Meanwhile, activist Peltz is gearing up for a DuPont proxy fight and does not want to engage in two such battles at the same time, sources said.
Nooyi has led a strong turnaround at PepsiCo in which shares have outperformed those of rival Coke over the last six-month and 12-month periods.
PepsiCo shares closed Tuesday at $96.72, down 2 percent.

(BFW) Vinci, Eiffage Profit Harm From Toll Freeze Is Limited: Analysts

Vinci, Eiffage Profit Harm From Toll Freeze Is Limited: Analysts
2015-01-28 14:47:25.199 GMT


By Francois de Beaupuy
(Bloomberg) -- Vinci drops as much as 2.9%, compounding
yesterday’s 3.5% decline, following French govt decision to
suspend 0.57% toll increase pending review, potential
cancellation of highway-operating contracts.
* Eiffage falls as much as 2.7% after yesterday’s 6.3% drop
* Aurel BGC estimates toll freeze for full year would cut EPS
by less than 1% at Vinci, by about 2.3% at Eiffage
* Deal between govt., highway operators on tolls,
concession durations, investment still most likely
outcome, though Vinci, Eiffage remain undermined by
political risk until highway stimulus package is signed
* Deal between govt., highway operators on tolls,
concession durations, investment still most likely
outcome, though Vinci, Eiffage remain undermined by
political risk until highway stimulus package is signed</li></ul>
* Natixis says yesterday’s drop in Vinci, Eiffage shares
priced in a toll freeze through 2017
* Societe Generale says flat tolls this year vs planned
increase of 0.57% would reduce Vinci’s valuation by ~EU200m,
Eiffage’s APRR concession by ~EU100m
* NOTE: France’s Royal Says ‘Reasonable’ to Freeze Highway
Toll Prices
* NOTE: French Highway Companies Consider Legal Action Vs
Government


For Related News and Information:
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To contact the reporter on this story:
Francois de Beaupuy in Paris at +33-1-5365-5051 or
fdebeaupuy@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Simon Thiel at +44-20-3525-2814 or
sthiel1@bloomberg.net