Shaw Capital Management Financial News

10April  2012 - Shaw Capital Management Financial News: Stocks: Market Edges Lower on Worries about China, Greece – NEW YORK — Two signs of trouble elsewhere in the world pushed U.S. stocks lower: slowing economic growth in China and a possible hitch in a deal to get Greece its bailout money.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed the day down 14.76 points to 12,962.81, or down 0.1 percent. The Dow closed above 13,000 last week for the first time since May 2008.

Monday was the 45th consecutive trading day without a loss of 100 points or more for the Dow. The last streak longer than that was 93 trading days from July 17 to Nov. 24, 2006.

Much of the pessimism in the market stemmed from China’s premier, Wen Jiabao, lowering China’s target rate for economic growth to 7.5 percent from 8 percent, where it has stood for years. That’s a negative sign because growth in China has been a key factor shoring up the global economy since the financial crisis of 2008.

The news sent steel company stocks sharply lower. Half of the world’s steel is consumed in China. AK Steel Holding Corp. lost 6 percent, while US Steel fell 4.7 percent.

The lower projection for Chinese growth also hurt stocks of U.S. materials companies that depend on China for profits. Caterpillar, which makes heavy equipment, fell 2.1 percent. Alcoa, the aluminum maker, fell 3.6 percent.

The Dow fell as much as 93 points in the morning before recouping some of that loss in the afternoon. Some market strategists said it was an overreaction to read too much into China’s projection.

“China is still a driver of global growth, even at its slightly reduced pace,” said Richard Cripps, chief market strategist at Stifel Nicolaus. “The growth rate is still far better than the U.S. and Europe.”

The Standard & Poor’s 500 dropped 5.30 points, or 0.4 percent, to 1,364.33.

The Nasdaq composite index fell 25.71 points, or 0.9 percent, to 2,950.48. The technology-heavy Nasdaq index fell slightly more than the other indexes as its star stocks Apple fell 2.2 percent and Google fell close to 1.1 percent.

Also weighing on the market were worries that not enough private investors will participate in a bond swap in Greece and accept bonds of lower face value and lower returns.

Trying to reassure world markets, a group representing a dozen banks, insurers and investment funds that hold Greek government bonds said they will participate in the swap by the Thursday night deadline.

Greece needs private investors to sign on before it gets a second international bailout worth $172 billion. Without the bailout, it could default on its debt later this month, an event many fear could shock the world financial system.

The stock market’s losses were limited by some positive news from the U.S. economy. Service companies expanded in February at the fastest pace in a year, helped by a rise in orders and job growth.

The Institute for Supply Management said Monday that its index of non-manufacturing activity rose to 57.3, up from 56.8 in January and the third straight increase. Any reading above 50 indicates expansion.

In recent months, markets have been lifted by signs of improvement in the U.S. economy. U.S. stock indexes have been trading at their highest levels since before the collapse of the Lehman Brothers investment bank in 2008.

Among other stocks making big moves:

— Alpha Natural Resources, a coal producer, fell 6 percent after the price of natural gas fell close to 5 percent due to weak demand for gas in a mild winter.

— Archipelago Learning stock soared 22.7 percent after the online education company agreed to be bought by Plato Learning for $291 million in cash, helping boost the number of customers.

— US Airways Group fell 8.4 percent after the airline said passenger revenue growth slowed in February, indicating it is having a tough time raising fares and fees to offset climbing oil prices.

— American International Group rose close to 2 percent. AIG will raise $6 billion by selling part of its stake in an Asian insurance company and pay down some of its debt to the U.S. government from a bailout during the financial crisis. AIG owed $50 billion at the end of 2011.

Company Overview of Cochrane Shaw Capital Management Pty Ltd.

Company Overview

Cochrane Shaw Capital Management Pty Ltd. provides investment and securities advisory services to individuals, corporations, accounting firms, and legal practices in Australia. The company offers advice on shares, debentures, superannuation, life insurance, unit trusts, and master fund products, as well as ongoing review on their investment portfolio. Its services include financial planning and investment strategies, superannuation planning, retirement and pension planning, risk insurance management, estate planning, and taxation planning. Cochrane Shaw Capital Management Pty Ltd. was incorporated in 1969 and is based in Melbourne, Australia. As of December 24, 2010,

Detailed Description

Suite 2

41 Railway Rd, Blackburn

Mebourne, VIC 3130

Australia

Founded in 1969

Phone 61 3 9894

                3788

Fax 61 3 9898 1015

http://www.cochraneshaw.com.au/

World Headlines: Shaw Capital Management

10April 2012 - Shaw Capital Management News: NASA Study Shows Health, Food Security Benefits From Climate Change Measures - A new study led by a NASA scientist features 14 key air pollution control measures that, if implemented, could sluggish the pace of global warming, improve health and increased agricultural production.

The research, led by Drew Shindell of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York City, found out that focusing on these measures could slow mean global warming 0.9 ºF (0.5ºC) by 2050, boost global crop yields by up to 135 million metric tons per season and could stop hundreds of thousands of premature deaths each in every year. While all regions of the world would benefit, countries in Asia and the Middle East would see the biggest health and agricultural gains from emissions reductions.

“We’ve shown that implementing specific practical emissions reductions chosen to maximize climate benefits also would have important ‘win-win’ benefits for human health and agriculture,” said Shindell. Shindell together with the international team considered about 400 control measures based on technologies assessed by the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Laxenburg, Austria. According to Shaw Capital Management News, the new study centers on 14 measures with the utmost climate benefit. All 14 would restrain the release of either black carbon or methane, pollutants that exacerbate climate change and human or plant health, either directly or by leading to ozone structure.

Methane, a colorless and flammable substance that is a major constituent of natural gas, is both a potent greenhouse gas and an important precursor to ground-level ozone. Ozone, a key component of smog and also a greenhouse gas, damages crops and human health.

While carbon dioxide is the primary driver of global warming over the long term, limiting black carbon and methane are complementary actions that would have a more immediate impact because these two pollutants circulate out of the atmosphere more quickly.

Black carbon, a product of burning fossil fuels or biomass such as wood or dung, can deteriorate a large number of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. The small particles also absorb radiation from the sun causing the atmosphere to warm and rainfall patterns to shift. In addition, they darken ice and snow, reducing their reflectivity and hastening global warming.

Shindell and his team concluded that these control measures would provide the greatest protection against global warming to Russia, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, countries with large areas of snow or ice cover. Iran, Pakistan and Jordan would encounter the most improvement in agricultural production. Southern Asia and the Sahel region of Africa would see the most beneficial changes to precipitation patterns.

The south Asian countries of India, Bangladesh and Nepal would see the largest reductions in premature deaths. The study estimates that globally between 700,000 and 4.7 million premature deaths could be prevented each year.

Black carbon and methane have many sources. As being mentioned on Shaw Capital Management News, Plummeting emissions would have needed of that societies make multiple infrastructure upgrades. For methane, the key strategies the scientists considered were capturing gas escaping from coal mines and oil and natural gas facilities, as well as dipping leakage from long-distance pipelines, preventing emissions from city landfills, upgrading wastewater treatment plants, aerating rice paddies more, and controlling emissions from manure on farms.

For black carbon, the strategies analyzed include putting up filters in diesel vehicles, keeping high-emitting vehicles off the road, upgrading cooking stoves and boilers to cleaner burning types, installing more efficient kilns for brick production, upgrading coke ovens and banning agricultural burning.

The scientists used computer models developed at GISS and the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg, Germany, to represent the impact of emissions reductions. The models showed extensive benefits from the methane reduction for the reason that it is evenly distributed throughout the atmosphere. Based from the Shaw Capital Management News, Black carbon falls out of the atmosphere after a few days so the benefits are stronger in certain regions, especially ones with large amounts of snow and ice.

“Protecting public health and food supplies may take precedence over avoiding climate change in most countries, but knowing that these measures also mitigate climate change may help motivate policies to put them into practice,” Shindell said. The new study builds on a United Nations Environment Program/World Meteorological Organization report, also led by Shindell, published last year.

“The scientific case for fast action on these so-called ‘short-lived climate forcers’ has been steadily built over more than a decade, and this study provides further focused and compelling analysis of the likely benefits at the national and regional level,” said United Nations Environment Program Executive Director Achim Steiner.