Panasonic LUMIX G1 DSLR Camera For The U.S. Market

Good news for us who lived in the United States, because Panasonic will launch its world’s smallest DSLR, LUMIX DMC-G1, in the United States market. In case you didn’t know, this lightweight DSLR camera adopts the Micro Four Thirds system that eliminates the internal mirror structure that defines digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) cameras. Available in black, red and blue, the Panasonic LUMIX G1 DSLR Camera retails for $800 a pop.

Interbank dollar pressures ease as banks lend

* US dollar funding pressures ease as banks lend dollars

* 2-yr dollar swap spread falls to lowest in a month

* Libor expected to fix lower as c.banks gain traction

(Recasts, adds quotes, comment and background, updates prices, changes byline and dateline. Previous SINGAPORE)

By Jamie McGeever

LONDON, Oct 20 (Reuters) – The rate at which banks lend dollars to each other fell on Monday as dealers reported U.S. banks starting to lend rather than simply hoard cash, a sign central banks are gaining traction in their quest to unclog frozen money markets.

Two-year dollar swap spreads fell to their lowest in a month, while euro and sterling interbank rates were also indicated lower in European trading on Monday.

Dealers on Friday had said one large U.S. bank lent up to $20 billion in one-month dollar funds, bringing one-month interbank rates down to 3.95 percent from around 5 percent.

“They fall into the category (very small) of quality banks where everyone has put their cash,” said the head of rates trading at one bank, referring to the U.S. bank in question.

Global interest rates in 2008

If rates change more than once a month, the last rate for that month is
listed.

1. On March 9, 2006 the BOJ said it would no longer set a target for the
amount of surplus funds in the money market, ending its “quantitative easing”
policy, and adopted a more conventional tactic of guiding the unsecured
overnight call rate. On July 14, 2006 it raised interest rates for the first
time in six years.

2. The Swiss National Bank targets a range for the three-month Swiss franc
LIBOR rate. It currently targets roughly the midpoint of that range.

3. Table shows the Bank of Mexico’s overnight lending rate. This replaces
monthly averages of yields on 28-day Cetes treasury bills at weekly open market
operations, as shown in past tables.

4. On Jan. 17, 2007 the Bank of Thailand set a new policy rate based on the
1-day repurchase rate BOT15, instead of the 14-day rate. The rate was set at
4.75 percent, compared with the market close that day of 4.9375 percent.
Comparison in the table for the end of 2006 shows the 14-day rate.

Japan economy, warns of strains

TOKYO, Oct 20 (Reuters) – Worsening global market strains and slower overseas growth are hurting Japan’s already sluggish economy, the Bank of Japan governor warned on Monday, as the central bank cut its assessment of all the nation’s nine geographical regions.

In a sign that fallout from weak exports is broadening, the central bank lowered its assessment for all regions — including the Kanto area centred on Tokyo — for the first time since it began compiling the quarterly report in April 2005.

“While there are some regional differences, overall economic growth has been sluggish mainly because of high energy costs and weaker export growth,” the BOJ’s regional branch managers said in their report for October.

Earlier, in a speech to the branch managers, BOJ Governor Masaaki Shirakawa said the bank needed to closely watch how the global market turmoil might affect Japan’s financial system, with a rise in corporate bankruptcies, mainly in the real estate sector, pushing up credit costs.

“Tensions are heightening in global financial markets and downside risks exist for the world economy,” Shirakawa said.

He stuck to the BOJ’s neutral line on monetary policy, repeating that it will carefully examine both risks of inflation and slowing economic growth in making rate decisions.

Financial markets did not react much to the remarks or the report. The Nikkei share average .N225 closed 3.6 percent higher as a softer yen helped battered shares of exporters.

Joint U.S.-New York inquiry into CDS trading

(Reuters) – New York state and federal prosecutors have launched an investigation into the role of credit-default swaps in the U.S. financial crisis, the New York Times reported.

Prosecutors are looking at whether there was manipulation in the largely unregulated market for credit-default swaps (CDS) to drive down the price of financial shares over the last year, the paper said, citing people briefed on the investigation.

Representatives for New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and U.S. attorney in Manhattan Michael Garcia confirmed to the Times on Friday that they will be jointly investigating the matter, the paper said.

As part of the probe, Cuomo’s office has issued subpoenas seeking data from various parts of the industry, including stock exchanges, investment firms and three companies involved in processing trades in swaps and stocks, sources told the paper.

The Times said subpoenas have been issued to clearing agent Depository Trust Clearing Corp (DTCC), swaps data provider Markit and financial data company Bloomberg.

The inquiry is in preliminary stages, sources told the paper, adding that it might not lead to a prosecution.

DTCC and Markit, in July formed a joint venture to combine their electronic trade processing services.

The CDS market, which is not regulated, involves guarantees bought by bond investors to protect themselves against defaults. CDS are over-the-counter contracts between two counterparties that bet on whether a company will default on its bonds within a fixed period of time.

Cuomo and Garcia are investigating whether investors drove up the price of swaps in transactions that were reported to data providers but never actually completed, sources told the Times.

Calls to Cuomo and Garcia’s office seeking confirmation were not immediately returned. DTCC and Markit also did not immediately return calls made by Reuters. Bloomberg could also not be reached for comment.

Barack Obama’s Presidential Campaign Heading

It would be easy for Marketing Pilgrim to post countless articles on how Barack Obama and John McCain are using online marketing to help their presidential campaigns. What’s hard is to find examples that don’t ignite a huge comment war–trust me, people can get a little heated when it comes to picking their presidential candidate.

U.S. Financial Crisis Impacts Search Marketing

What’s happening on a macro level, in key verticals and in light of the U.S. financial crisis?

In an ongoing down economy, we fully expect that search will suffer the least. It can be tracked with an end-to-end view of economic impact. In a continued down economy, it is likely we’ll see less clicks with purchase-intent overall, particularly for premium goods and services in the retail sector. However, that will be countered to some extent by interest in clicks tied to special offers and incentives, which often surface in a down economy. Of course, certain verticals will experience significant downturn and decreased spend as key players implode, such as with financial services.

Branding and display advertising appear to be softening amidst a slower economic climate, and we expect some of those budgets to be reallocated to search, especially among small and midsize businesses, many of which invested relatively little in display to begin with. To be sure, with vast inventory and softening prices, the quarter and year ahead will offer less expensive opportunities for brands to invest in display and branding.

While search is fundamentally stable and has a very strong reputation, we believe churn will be a trend to watch, especially amidst a continued downturn. In the SMB segment, some less sophisticated advertisers with less accountability and lower ROI might abandon or decrease search marketing. Moreover, there have been some concerns about over-selling and under-performing by a number of local, small-business lead-generation services. Search will prevail as a fundamental tactic to capture customers, but we may see some volatility here.

If a down economy persists, it will be interesting to see how search spending will be impacted by shifts in advertising among Fortune 1000 companies – a sector Google clearly has identified as critical to penetrate. The F1000 spend a vast majority of their advertising budgets on brand advertising, with a small percentage allocated to search. In down economies, large brands often decrease their overall ad budgets. It is unclear how that will bode for search.

What is the Google-Yahoo partnership all about?

The monetization of search is dependent on a critical mass of advertisers. Volume of advertisers drives volume of ads, which drives quality of ads (relevance) and increases the price of keywords. That has been one of Yahoo’s challenges, and among the rationale for its possible partnership with Google. As of this post, Yahoo and Google have agreed to delay their partnership to give the Justice Department more time to evaluate the deal.

If the partnership occurs, will the deal be good for advertisers? It depends, but there are key variables to consider. How will inventory be allocated to the different ad platforms? What will the nuances of each network be? How will the performance differ across the legacy Yahoo search versus Google network? How much transparency will there be? A key question will be how much inventory Yahoo will cede to Google. That could impact advertiser relationships and synergies with Yahoo’s display business.

What would a major deal like this mean for small and midsize advertisers? Can Clickable help? At this early stage of online advertising, change and volatility is inevitable in the marketplace, including developments with all advertising networks. This will present ongoing complexity for advertisers. However, overcoming complexity is Clickable’s core mission; we will continually invest in our solution to help marketers navigate and drive accountability and profitability through change. Clickable will always figure out what’s best for its customers, guaranteeing the optimization strategies that capture this dynamic market.

What’s the meaning of innovations like Chrome and Android?

Google’s Chrome initiative appears to be an attempt to influence the evolution and speed of innovation among all browser developers. There are clear performance and experience benefits, but an overall browser market that follows suit would create a better environment for Google’s advancement into Web applications, moving closer into Microsoft’s OS domain. The same goes for Android, with advancement into Apple’s mobile domain. It’s a little nudge to both Microsoft and Apple as all three jockey for position around the future of mobile and apps.

Mobile Advertising – will it materialize in 2009? International?

Mobile will not “explode” in 2009, though we will get much closer with developments around iPhone and Android, as well as Google’s efforts to require API partners to package new ad formats in third-party ad systems and dashboards. Significant mobile traction continues outside of the U.S.

What’s the significance of the Yahoo APT deal?

Yahoo APT reflects a broader trend toward automated, self-service ad systems, reducing the friction still associated with antiquated manual operations in place. Yahoo hopes to offer advertisers more control and ease-of-use over spending, while providing publishers more dynamic, effective inventory controls. Yahoo is looking to bring the efficiency of paid search advertising to the display side.

Changes in advertiser versus agency activity?

Agencies are being challenged on two fronts, especially in an economic downturn. First, many Fortune 1000 brands, with most ad dollars tied to branding, are likely to reduce overall budgets. Secondly, agencies are challenged with savvier advertisers continuing to ponder managing search in-house, or some aspects of it. Advertisers will be more sensitive to higher agency margins, and more cognizant of improving tools to more effectively manage their accounts, both internally and externally via agencies. Agencies are not going away by any means, but the core value and economics are changing.

What is comparative activity across networks?

We’ve seen no major comparative spending changes across the major search ad networks (i.e., share between Google, Yahoo and MSN), however we still see advertisers (especially small and midsize advertisers) willing to pay more on Yahoo versus Google because prime inventory is less competitive. Because of greater complexity associated with managing a second network, many agencies still often avoid Yahoo and consolidate spending with Google.

Necessary finance tips for young adults

1. Understand the basics

Financial services often seem really complicated, but it’s not hard for you to understand the basics for all financial services that you buy. Otherwise, you could get a nasty surprise if something goes wrong.

Before you sign on the dotted line, make sure you understand the basics of:

* What you have promised to do (eg make regular payments).
* What the company has promised to do (eg provide a loan, or cover a loss).
* Whether there are any exceptions or qualifications to these promises (eg an insurer may not have to pay your car insurance claim if you had been drinking when the accident occurred).
* What you should do if something goes wrong.

Don’t be afraid or embarrassed to ask questions. Sometimes it can be awkward, but a good salesperson should give you enough time and information so that you can understand the product. You can also ask to take the documents away, so that you have time to read them and get advice.

Don’t be pressured into signing something that you don’t understand. You could regret it later.

2. Hold onto your paperwork

Anything to do with money often involves lots of paperwork – account statements, contracts, policy documents, terms and conditions and more.

If you’re tempted to throw all this paperwork in the bin – stop! Even if you don’t read it all straight away, get into the habit of keeping the important paperwork in a special file that’s easily accessible. It will come in handy if you have a question or problem about your financial affairs.

You should also get into the habit of keeping notes from any important telephone calls you have with your finance institution. Again, they might help if you have a complaint.

Your notes don’t need to be fancy, but it’s important to record basic information such as the name of the person you spoke to, the date and time, and an outline of what was said. Keep this with all your other paperwork.

3. Reduce your costs

Some form of savings or transaction account is almost a necessity these days. But don’t be complacent about your account – there are ways that you can reduce the costs.

For example, if you are a student or a recent graduate, you may be able to get a fee-free account. Ask your institution if they have one.

But what if you are not eligible for a fee-free account? You can still reduce your costs by changing how you bank. For example, it’s often cheaper to use Internet banking than to visit a branch. But first, you’ll need to understand how and when fees are charged on your account. Ask your institution to tell you about the main fees and charges, and whether you are entitled to a certain number of free transactions. You can use this information to help you develop cheaper banking habits.

4. Minimise the risk of unauthorised transactions – keep your PIN secret

Many complaints about unauthorised transactions are made each year. The best way to protect yourself from someone accessing the money in your account is to keep your PIN and/or password secret! Don’t tell anyone your PIN or password – this includes your friends and family. Also, don’t keep a copy of your PIN or password near your card, or on your computer (unless it’s password protected).

Many institutions will let you choose your own PIN or password, and this can help you remember it. But, be careful with what you choose – don’t make it so easy to remember that it will also be easy for a thief to guess.

5. Be very careful with direct debits

Direct debits can be a great way of making sure that the necessities of life – like your bills and rent – are paid on time. But make sure you know how to cancel a direct debit if you need to. For example, if you change your phone company.

To cancel a direct debit, you should tell both your institution and the company making the direct debit (eg the phone or electricity company). Writing a short letter is often best. Keep a copy of the letter, and if problems arise, contact your institution straight away.

Also, make sure you have enough money in your account to cover a direct debit. If there is not enough, you might have to pay an expensive overdraw fee.

Invest time talking to new sources of finance. You might need them if your current providers prove difficult

I understand the point but this is where I diverge from Clive Lewis, if only in terms of practicalities.

There are only so many hours in the day and if you are spending more time on finance control issues and making sure that your business does everything it can to avoid financial difficulty, where is the extra time to come from?

From a marketing perspective, I want you to be strengthening relationships with your best customers to take advantage of the “flight to quality” where customers want to have confidence in their suppliers.

It is certainly worth finding out names and contact details through your network of contacts so that you are ready but I don’t really see the value for you or the other financiers in spending time in speculative relationship building.

Make surethat all types and sources of finance have been fully considered

It is often possible to raise extra finance through the specialist asset financing companies that through your main bank, even if they are part of the same financial institution.

Sounds crazy I know but specialists are able to assess the risks better.