Erdoğan invites Arab capital to invest in Turkey

Attending the Jeddah Economic Forum for the third time, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has called on Arab investors to invest in Turkey.

In his speech Sunday, Erdoğan said annual gross domestic product in Turkey has tripled in the past eight years, from $230 billion to $730 billion. He also described the government’s success in cutting inflation and interest rates.

“We wish to see all our Arab brothers in our country,” Erdoğan said. “We want them to invest in every area, from health care to tourism, from energy to construction and from industry to agriculture. The doors will be fully open for you, do not have any concerns.”

The Turkish government aims to put Turkey among the biggest 10 economies in the world by the year 2023, the 100th anniversary of the Turkish Republic, the prime minister said, adding that the number of Saudi-partnered companies in Turkey has surpassed 200, while the total volume of Saudi capital has reached $2.5 billion.

Erdoğan also told Saudi businesspeople and officials that visa requirements have been abolished between Turkey and Syria, Jordan and Libya. “I hope we will abolish the requirements with Saudi Arabia,” he said.

Sourceh: Hurriyet Turkish news

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What does this mean? Obviously pro-Islamic state leader wants to get more funds from Arabs instead of the World Bank.

Turkey which needed about $53 billion in loans from the IMF, declined IMF's funding last year based on their solid economic growth factors, Turkey's gross domestic product explanded 6 percent on an annual basis during final three months of 2009, even though Turkey used to get funding from IMF an annual basis prior years. It is clear country needs some sort of investment but chooses to get it from Arab brothers. Now the question is whether Arab brothers would want to invest in booming Turkey's economy or not after the crisis burn in Dubai of 2008-09. The fact that visa requirements were abolished between Saudis and Turkey is a big move towards collaboration and it could very well serve the best interests of both countries.

IBM settles with SEC, pays $10 million for accusations of bribery

WOW!!! Even major international corporation getting in trouble for bribery, and it is not some other Asian company this time, it is a Big Blue of the West, chose to settle it down with SEC over allegations that over the 15 years or so IBM's employees were illegally bribing foreign officials to score themselves bigger contracts. Ultimately $10 million is little more than a slap on the wrist for the company size of IBM.

Exclusive: Goldman cuts 5 percent of trading desk: sources

"SIX SIGMA"

The company's whittling away of poor performers involves an elaborate peer review process. Employees are reviewed by supervisors, co-workers and employees they supervise "in a 360-degree review process," according to the company's annual report.

Poor performers are known internally as being on the "Z-List," according to the sources. Those employees typically get an early signal about their status with a disappointing bonus in January.

Many poor performers tend to quit ahead of layoffs and seek other jobs, the sources said. The rest are eventually let go.

The company's review process is legendary on Wall Street, according to Steven Gerbel, founder of Chicago Capital Management, a hedge fund that has used Goldman as a brokerage for several years. He likens it to the "Six Sigma" quality control process first established by Motorola.

Goldman shares fell 60 cents to $155.15 in after-hours trading.

Source: reuters.com

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it's like if you don't know what you are doing why da heck are you even trading... oh wait how can you know or do you just bet and get lucky?

Bank of America say oil price could hit 240 USD a barrel

Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) have upgraded their outlook for the oil price.

A morning call from Bank of America Merrill Lynch says:

"Following the recent Libyan oil supply disruptions our oil price expectations have been upgraded. Our 2Q11 forecast for Brent moves up to $122/bbl from $86/bbl.

"On average for 2011, Brent crude oil prices are projected to be at $108/bbl, up from our prior forecast of $88/bbl.

"As the situation in the Middle East remains volatile, we see larger than normal risks around our base case scenario, with a 30% chance for higher oil prices if the situation worsens, and focus on Bahrain and Iran."

And, this 30% chance of oil price rises could see the $125 - $160 barrel range being met.

"It is worth highlighting that even after lifting their price profile, we still see a 30% probability for an oil price overshoot, which could take quotations to $240/bbl over the coming 12 months," say Bank of America.

Implications for global growth

Should oil prices surge higher to these levels, then a global slow down is highly likely.

Higher oil prices reduce domestic demand; reduce global growth, affecting export demand; worsen the balance of payments; and boost inflation, complicating interest rate policy.

"In a recent Global Energy Weekly, we calculated that average Brent crude oil prices of around $115/bbl in 2011 and $130/bbl next year would have scope to severely damage the global economy and hence also metals demand. Looking at this from another angle, our economics team estimates that a $10/bbl increase in oil prices reduces GDP growth in developed oil consuming nations by 0.1% to 0.5% over the following four quarters," says the note from Bank of America. Source: http://www.economy-news.co.uk/oil-prices-16201103-2.html

Really?!

TED: Khan Academy

A glimpse to the future of the education!

The Top 50 Venture-Backed Companies

Start-ups with potential for technological breakthroughs in health care, mobile communications and business software topped The Wall Street Journal's second annual Next Big Thing list.

The ranking — compiled by research firm VentureSource, a unit of Journal owner News Corp. — seeks to pinpoint the 50 U.S. venture-backed companies with the greatest promise to succeed. To be eligible, companies must have received an equity round of financing in the past three years and be valued at less than $1 billion, as the aim is to identify lesser-known contenders.

Source: http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/documents/st_VCRankMy_20110308.html