Will Video Game Consoles Really Save AMD? - 24/7 Wall St.

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD) is seeing some short-term profit taking so far on Tuesday, which frankly is of very little surprise. AMD shares rose a sharp 13% after a Bloomberg report that AMD was going to get the processor order for the newest Xbox from Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT). The news is obviously good news, but we genuinely question whether or not this saves AMD.

To say that AMD has been challenged would be the understatement of the decade. It is so far behind Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) in PC processors and behind ARM Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: ARMH) in mobile, and even Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA) is deemed to be ahead of AMD?s ATI graphics unit. The win for AMD would be a loss for IBM, and it might make AMD the vendor of choice for video game consoles as Sony has also slated the?AMD processor to run the upcoming?PS4 console.

While we wound consider the gaming console win as a welcoming sign, we would stress that game system processors have historically been using processors which would be slow if considered for new computers. In short, the size of the orders might not move the needle by enough when you consider that just last week a report from Gartner shows lower and lower shipments of desktop and notebook PCs from 2013 out to 2017.

One positive came out when Wells Fargo?s technology team predicted that AMD shares could double from current levels. That seemed like a stretch at the time, but Monday?s move makes that call look much more insightful now.

We have always warned that we may just have ridden the negative wagon on AMD for so long that we don?t know how to recognize a severe turning point. That seems doubtful as an admission, but it has to at least be thrown out there.

Jon C. Ogg

Source: http://247wallst.com/2013/04/09/will-video-game-consoles-really-save-amd/

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Taylor Swift Isn't Sure About Marriage, and That's Okay

Taylor Swift has one of the most successful careers in country music history, but her interviews always circle back to the same thing: love. In a new conversation with Wonderland magazine, the 23-year-old singer-songwriter talks about break-ups, the single life, and the possibility of marriage.

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/taylor-swift-i-have-no-idea-if-im-going-get-married/1-a-532772?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Ataylor-swift-i-have-no-idea-if-im-going-get-married-532772

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Russia to file case against vote-monitoring group

MOSCOW (AP) ? Russia's Justice Ministry says it is filing a legal case against the country's only independent elections monitoring group for allegedly failing to register as a foreign agent.

Under a law passed last year, any non-governmental organization that receives foreign funding and is deemed to be involved in political activities must register as a "foreign agent." Critics say the term is pejorative and aimed at undermining NGOs' credibility and support.

Failure to register carries a potential fine of up to 300,000 rubles (about $9,500) for the organization's director and 500,000 rubles ($16,000) for the organization.

A Justice Ministry statement Tuesday said the vote-monitoring group Golos was found to have engaged in political activity and had failed to register. The case is to be presented to a court on Wednesday.

Golos director Liliya Shibanova told the state news agency RIA Novosti that the group has not received foreign funding since the law took effect. "I don't know on what basis they're doing this."

The announcement comes after a wide wave of searches at hundreds of non-governmental organizations in recent weeks. The searches brought sharp criticism from the West, including the United States where State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland characterized them as a "witch-hunt."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday prodded President Vladimir Putin on the NGOs issue, telling him during his visit that "a lively civil society can only develop if individual organizations can work without fear and worry."

Putin brushed aside the concern, saying: "We aren't trying to put anyone under control, but we want to know how much money, through what channels and for what purpose, is being sent."

Putin and other Russian officials have long complained that Western countries aim to undermine his government by funding opposition groups. The criticism became more vehement after a wave of massive anti-Putin protests broke in Russia in late 2011.

After he returned to the presidency in May, Russia enacted several measures aimed at stifling opposition, including the foreign agents registration law and sharply increasing penalties for taking part in unauthorized demonstrations.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/russia-file-case-against-vote-monitoring-group-131143894.html

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China March trade data signals strengthening recovery

By Aileen Wang and Nick Edwards

BEIJING (Reuters) - China saw a mild trade deficit of $884 million in March as a forecast-busting 14.1 percent year on year surge in imports eclipsed export growth of 10 percent, signaling that domestic demand was gathering steam needed to drive economic recovery.

Customs Administration data on Wednesday showed import growth far in excess of the 5.2 percent expected, while exports fell just short of the 10.5 percent rise forecast in the benchmark Reuters poll.

That left China with a trade deficit, compared with a forecast surplus of $15.4 billion and February's surplus of $15.3 billion.

Haibin Zhu, chief China economist at JP Morgan in Hong Kong, said the surge in imports in March could help dispel a major concern over the strength of the domestic demand cycle prompted by weakness of import data in previous months.

"The stronger than expected import growth for March suggest this cycle is probably coming to a turning point," Zhu told Reuters. "If domestic demand turns out to be stronger than expected, it's definitely positive for the economic outlook."

Brent crude futures steadied above $106 per barrel and the Australian dollar hit a 2-1/2-month high after the data as investors cheered numbers that implied recovering domestic demand and strong appetite for commodity imports.

China's Commerce Ministry has pledged to unveil fresh measures this year to boost imports, chiming with Beijing's long-term goal of balancing its trade structure to pursue more sustainable growth by tilting the economy more towards domestic consumption.

A pair of surveys last week showed that stronger domestic demand helped China's factory activity to rebound in March, with new orders up sharply in a sign that the underlying economic recovery is strong enough to weather any risks from patchy external environment.

Analysts say investment-led domestic demand is vital to China's burgeoning recovery from a slowdown in 2012 that saw the economy expand at its slackest pace since 1999 -- albeit at a 7.8 percent rate that is the envy of its major trading partners.

Especially so as exports, which are about 30 percent of China's GDP, face significant demand headwinds from debt-constrained consumers and governments in the European Union and the United States -- the country's two biggest foreign markets.

Wednesday's data follows two months of particularly strong export growth -- February's soared past forecasts to jump by a fifth year on year, even after January's had jumped by 25 percent -- which had implied a overseas demand boom that had confounded economists.

UNCOMFORTABLE REALITY

"We thought something odd had been going on with (export) numbers," said Alistair Thornton, China economist at IHS Global Insight in Beijing, who believes the export data does not support the notion of the overall economy gaining significant momentum and remains suspicious of it.

"China's exports to Hong Kong grew by an astounding 93 percent year on year -- the highest since March 1995 -- whilst exports to the EU contracted by 14 percent year on year and those to the U.S. sank by 7 percent. Given a lot of exports to Hong Kong are actually re-exported to the EU and US as final destinations, this seems a little incongruous, to say the least," he said.

"The upshot is that the 10 percent headline (export) growth number masks an uncomfortable reality -- either the trade data is unreliable, or if it is reliable, then what are being booked as exports are not actually exports. Either way, this is not an optimistic data release," Thornton added.

Analysts believe that Hong Kong is often used by Chinese firms as a conduit through which they can inflate invoices to boost foreign exchange earnings, though there are also legitimate reasons for routing via the special administrative region to mitigate tax bills and third-party customs duties.

There's a huge amount at stake in an economy where total trade was worth some $3.9 trillion in 2012. March exports were worth $182.2 billion, while imports were worth $183.1 billion.

Zheng Yuesheng, spokesman of General Administration of Customs, told a news conference on Wednesday at which the trade data was released that the issue was being investigated.

"We are now looking into the issue closely and have done some initial research. We will work with related government departments to do more detailed research in the future and hope to sort out various reasons behind abnormal trade growth with Hong Kong and will take regulatory measures if needed," he said.

INTERNAL STRENGTH

Ting Lu, chief China economist at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch in Hong Kong, echoed concerns about the Hong Kong export surge, but was more focused on the import numbers.

"Import growth in March, mainly on rising domestic demand for raw materials, was strong, implying robust FAI (fixed asset investment) growth in coming months," Lu wrote in a client note.

Infrastructure spending - which grew at an annual rate of 21.3 percent in the first two months of 2013 - has provided a crucial underpinning to activity in the world's second biggest economy and is widely credited with triggering the recovery which began in Q4 last year.

Iron ore imports jumped 14.4 percent in March from February, Customs data showed, feeding steel mills that have been producing in excess of 2 million metric tons of steel per day since mid-February in anticipation of a further domestic demand boost.

On the internal front, the accelerating restocking process in some industries and a favorable base effect from a year ago may have flattered March imports, which otherwise remain constrained by falling global commodity prices and a slower-than-expected upturn in investment demand, analysts said.

But Lu pointed to growth of imports for domestic use improving to 4.8 percent year on year in March from a fall of 2.3 percent in January-February combined, as a clear sign of an uptick in internal demand fuelling economic output.

"With the rise in import growth, which implies a rise in domestic demand as well as some other indicators, we believe GDP growth will rebound in Q2 to above 8.0 percent (we forecast 8.1 percent)," Lu said.

China is set to report GDP data for the first quarter of 2013 on Monday, April 15. Economists polled by Reuters have a consensus GDP growth forecast of 8 percent versus growth of 7.9 percent in Q4 2012.

(Reporting by China Economics Team; Writing by Nick Edwards; Editing by Eric Meijer)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/china-march-trade-data-signals-strengthening-recovery-045002581--business.html

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New movie '42' shows baseball's Jackie Robinson as man, not icon

By Eric Kelsey

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The legend of Jackie Robinson, the man who broke baseball's color barrier more than 60 years ago, gets a human touch in biopic "42," that opens in U.S. movie theaters on Friday.

Chadwick Boseman, who stars as Robinson, said he wanted to remake the iconic image of the Hall of Fame baseball player, who has long been seen as a stoic figure with an unshakable will in the face of racial hatred, into an emotionally complex man who privately raged against racist taunting.

"I was able to explore him as a man and not an idea," Boseman told Reuters. "Some people say he's almost a perfect person, but he's not."

Boseman, 36, a little-known face on Hollywood's big screen, stars opposite Harrison Ford who plays Branch Rickey, the general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers team, who paved the way for Robinson to enter Major League Baseball in 1947.

"42" takes its name from Robinson's number, which Major League Baseball retired from use for all players in 1997 on the 50th anniversary of Robinson becoming the first black player in the league.

"I was just able to sort of put myself in (Robinson's) shoes and breathe his life in any situation and try to search for those dark moments and the type of person he was, based upon what he said and what other people said," Boseman said.

The actor, who has appeared on TV series such as "Fringe" and "Justified," said he sought insight into Robinson's personality and emotions at that time from his wife, Rachel Robinson, with whom he met several times to prepare for the role.

"I could tell from how strong their relationship was. The best way to say it is you're seeing a piece of the puzzle," Boseman said. "They're a complete puzzle together. I could see the edges of who he is from who she is."

The Robinsons were married from 1946 until Jackie's death from a heart attack at age 53 in 1972. Rachel, now 90, founded the Jackie Robinson Foundation to help educate underprivileged youth in 1973.

DARK MOMENTS

In the film, director Brian Helgeland fashions Robinson and Rickey as precursors to the Civil Rights movement. Robinson is forced to endure - and ignore - bigotry and taunts while Rickey quickly ships out players who refuse to play alongside Robinson.

In one early test of resolve, a reporter asks Robinson what he would do when a pitcher intentionally throws at his head.

"I'll duck," the infielder quips.

But Helgeland also shows Robinson as at times confused and frustrated by his status.

"It was important to show what he was thinking in the process, how did he get to the place where he made the decisions he made and where did he in some cases fall short of it," Boseman said.

Robinson's anger over racial abuse hits a climax when an opposing manager stands on the field shouting racist insults while Robinson is at bat.

Unable to retaliate, Robinson comes apart in the tunnel connecting the Dodgers bench and clubhouse, smashing his bat in front of Rickey who challenges him to rise above racism.

"At some point he had to break," Boseman said. "And the fact that Rachel Robinson didn't fight us to take (the scene) out (of the film), to me proves that it is true."

Although more than half a century has passed since Robinson's final game in 1956, Boseman said the film also reflects the scars millions of African Americans still bear today.

"We still have people that remember that time living," he said. "But the fact that it wasn't that long ago lets you know that some of those things still resonate."

"42" is distributed by Warner Bros., a subsidiary of Time Warner Inc.

(Reporting by Eric Kelsey, editing by Jill Serjeant and Cynthia Osterman)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/movie-42-shows-baseballs-jackie-robinson-man-not-185934476--mlb.html

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