London Euro slumped back against the U.S. dollar on Monday

London Euro slumped back against the U.S. dollar on Monday, as investors adjust positions ahead of Federal Reserve meeting, which some believe could announce new measures to boost the sluggish recovery.Dealers said the euro rose in early trading very strongly supported by the German trade figures which show Europe’s economic giant will help drive growth across the region.As the day develops, markets anticipate that the Fed could announce new stimulus steps in a meeting on Tuesday which will be positive for the dollar with the increase in U.S. economic prospects.

However, choppy trade with investors reluctant to make big commitments awaiting the Fed’s statement after the closely watched U.S. jobs report on Friday is much worse than expected.In late trading in London, the euro was at 1.3236 dollars, the highest in the early retreat of around 1.3283 dollars, down from 1.3276 dollars late Friday in New York.

Against the Japanese yen, the dollar is stronger at 85.86 yen from 85.48 yen on Friday.Michael Hewson of CMC Markets in London said the attention of everyone there at the Fed.”The results that will dominate this week’s sentiment   What will become of certain records would be a tone of language used in the statement of work, especially after the data is weaker than expected on Friday,” said Hewson.Forex.com said Jane Foley of choppy trade “as the market grappled with the possibility of facing the Federal Reserve.”,”Payrolls Friday may have been disappointing, but the market still was not sure because if the data illustrate a major slowdown in U.S. economic sukup” which will prompt the Fed to take new action, he said.

With interest rates near zero percent, analysts had suggested the Fed could mempertimbangkankebijakan based monetary stimulus, including a new pumping money directly into the system to increase the demand for credit.Earlier, Germany’s second largest exporter in the world after China, said exports in June surged 28.5 percent to 86.5 billion euros (115 billion dollars), the highest level since October 2008.

Meanwhile, imports surged 31.7 percent to reach a new record of 72.4 billion euros, meaning that the German trade partners also work well.”This has increased the possibility of Germany’s economy grew faster in the second quarter from the previous assumptions,” said Commerzbank analyst, Simon Junker.In London trading, the euro changed hands at 1.3236 dollars against 1.3276 dollars on Friday, at 113.65 yen (113.50), 0.8297 British pounds (0.8326) and 1.3851 Swiss francs (1, 3788).Dollar stood at 85.86 yen (85.48) and 1.0466 Swiss francs (1.0378). The pound was at 1.5951 dollars (1.5941).On the London Bullion Market, gold prices slid to 1203 dollars per ounce from 1207.75 dollars per ounce on Friday. (  AFP) –

solar-powered airplane designed to fly day and night without fuel or emissions successfully made its first test flight above the Swiss

A solar-powered airplane designed to fly day and night without fuel or emissions successfully made its first test flight above the Swiss countryside on Wednesday.The Solar Impulse, which has 12,000 solar cells built into its wings, is a prototype for an aircraft intended to fly around the world without fuel in 2012.It glided for 87 minutes above western Switzerland at an altitude of 1,200 meters (3,937 feet) with German test pilot Markus Scherdel at the controls.”Everything went as it should,” Scherdel told Reuters Television at Payerne military base after landing.

It took six years to built the carbon fiber aircraft, which has the wingspan of an Airbus A340 and weighs as much as a mid-size car (1,600 kg).The prototype made a “flea hop” in December 2009, flying a distance of 350 meters one meter above the runway of a military airbase near Zurich. It was then transported to Payerne airfield in the west of Switzerland for its maiden flight.The propeller plane is powered by four electric motors and designed to fly day and night by saving energy from its solar cells in high-performance batteries.

It is ultimately expected to attain an average flying speed of 70 kms per hour and reach a maximum altitude of 8,500 meters (27,900 feet).Bertrand Piccard, one of the Swiss pilots behind the project, is best known for completing the first non-stop, round-the-world flight in a hot-air balloon in March 1999.

The other main pilot, Swiss engineer Andre Borschberg, has described it as “ten times lighter than the very best glider.””Such a large wingspan for so little weight is something completely new in the world of aviation,” he said on the initiative’s website http://www.solarimpulse.com.

The project’s budget is 100 million Swiss francs ($94 million), 80 million francs of which has been secured from sponsors, according to spokeswoman Rachel de Bros.Belgian chemicals company Solvay, Swiss watchmaker Omega, part of the Swatch group, and German banking giant Deutsche Bank, are the three main sponsors.Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), one of two Swiss federal polytechnical universities, is scientific advisor.(Reuters)

British candy maker Cadbury PLC was thrown further into doubt Tuesday when a major Kraft Foods Inc

Kraft Cadbury

LONDON The battle for British candy maker Cadbury PLC was thrown further into doubt Tuesday when a major Kraft Foods Inc. shareholder voted not to endorse the U.S. company’s hostile takeover bid, even as Kraft sweetened its offer with more cash.Billionaire Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. said it had voted against Kraft’s proposal to issue 370 million shares to finance its 10.3 billion pound ($16.5 billion) bid, saying it was worried Kraft would raise the bid even higher.Kraft earlier Tuesday increased the cash part of its offer after agreeing to sell its North American pizza business to Nestle for $3.7 billion. Nestle also said it wouldn’t be making its own offer for Cadbury, as some analyst had speculated.That leaves Kraft the sole bidder for now, though the British maker of Dairy Milk chocolate and Dentyne gum has said it has received expressions of interest from The Hershey Co. of the United States and Italy’s Ferrero International SA.

Cadbury dismissed Kraft’s plan to use the money raised from selling brands such as Tombstone and Jack’s to increase the proportion of cash in its offer as “tinkering.”Shares in the British maker of Dairy Milk chocolate and Dentyne gum were down 3.7 percent at 775 pence, after briefly diving to 764.4 pence following Berkshire Hathaway’s announcement.Berkshire Hathaway, which holds 9.4 percent of Kraft’s stock, said that the share issue would give Kraft “a blank check allowing it to change its offer to Cadbury in any way it wishes.””And we worry very much that, indeed, there will be an additional change from the revision announced this morning,” it added. “To state the matter simply, a shareholder voting “yes” today is authorizing a huge transaction without knowing its cost or the means of payment.”

Kraft, based in Northfield, Illinois, could not immediately be reached for comment on Berkshire Hathaway’s move.Kraft, whose brands include Philadelphia cream cheese and Oreo cookies, earlier said its change to offer reflected calls by some Cadbury shareholders to have more of the offer in cash and “to be more sparing in its use of undervalued Kraft Foods shares as currency for the offer.””Kraft Foods continues to believe that its share price is depressed as a consequence of a number of short term factors which it believes will dissipate once the uncertainty surrounding its offer for Cadbury is resolved,” the company said in a statement.

Kraft said Tuesday it will use an amount equivalent to the net proceeds from the pizza sale, which it estimates to be 60 pence per Cadbury share, to fund a partial cash alternative to its offer.It also extended the deadline for shareholders to accept its bid until Feb. 2 – the last day in the 60-day timetable set by the U.K. Takeover Panel.It has until Jan. 19 to revise its offer further.Berkshire said it will vote to issue shares only if it does not think the final offer hurts value for Kraft shareholders.

Cadbury’s share price is still well above the original 742 pence value of Kraft’s offer – 300 pence in cash and 0.2589 Kraft shares for each Cadbury share – reflecting the odds that changing the cash component is unlikely to be enough to win over shareholders who are seeking a higher overall price.Cadbury, which recently outlined its credentials as a stand-alone company by raising its long-term performance targets and producing better-than-expected profit margins, said the offer continued to undervalue the British company.

“Kraft has once again missed the point,” it said. “Despite this tinkering, the Kraft offer remains unchanged and derisory with less than half the consideration in cash.”Cadbury is due to provide a trading update, including the key Christmas season, next week.Nestle’s earlier decision to rule itself out of the bidding settled rumors that the Swiss maker of Nescafe coffee and KitKat chocolate was gathering a war chest for a rival bid after it agreed to sell off its 52 percent stake in eyecare company Alcon for $28 billion and announced it would spend less cash on share buybacks.

Some analysts still believe that another suitor may emerge.”We think that Hershey is keen to make a deal with Cadbury,” analysts at Numis stockbrokers wrote in a research note. “In reality Nestle is acting as a fund provider to the Cadbury deal and we would not be surprised to see the Swiss group play that role again by buying assets from Hershey, the Kit Kat brand in the U.S. being an obvious candidate.”

Nestle, meanwhile, is gaining a pizza business that includes the Tombstone and Jack’s brands in the U.S., the Delissio brand in Canada and the California Pizza Kitchen trademark license. It also includes two Wisconsin manufacturing facilities in Medford and Little Chute, Wisconsin.Nestle said the acquisition will add a “new strategic pillar” to its frozen food portfolio in the U.S. and Canada, making it a significant player in the $37 billion a year pizza market. Nestle is already represented in the U.S. with brands such as Stouffer’s, Lean Cuisine, Buitoni, Hot Pockets and Lean Pockets.Shares in the Swiss company rose 1.5 percent to 50.95 Swiss francs.About 3,400 employees are expected to transfer to Nestle.(AP)