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Europe Factors-Shares seen extending retreat

31.12.69

PARIS, Oct 18 (Reuters) - European stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Tuesday, with shares set to extend the previous session's losses after disappointing U.S. earnings, easing Chinese growth and Moody's warning on France's triple-A credit rating outlook. At 0624 GMT, futures for the Euro STOXX 50 , Germany's DAX and the French CAC 40 were down 1.1-1.3 percent. Late on Monday, Moody's warned it may slap a negative outlook on France's Aaa credit rating in the next three months if the costs for helping to bail out banks and other euro zone members stretch its budget too much. IBM's quarterly results failed to impress investors used to a robust showing from the tech bellwether, sparking worries over lacklustre corporate IT spending. China's economic growth slowed in the third quarter to its weakest pace since early 2009 -- with GDP rising 9.1 percent in the quarter from a year earlier, down from 9.5 percent in the previous quarter -- although the data showed core domestic drivers of growth remained solid. European stocks fell on Monday while U.S. shares suffered their worst loss in two weeks after Germany's finance minister cautioned against hopes for a quick fix to Europe's debt troubles, prompting investors to cash in some of the recent lofty gains. "The recent rally in equities was based on the assumption that European policy makers had finally gotten into gear over solving the crisis but now it appears that assumption was far too optimistic," Capital Spreads trader Jonathan Sudaria said. "As markets hover at the top of their well defined ranges, it appears that bears are emerging for another assault on the downside." After a 24 percent rally from a late September low, the euro zone's blue chip Euro STOXX 50 index ran into major resistance levels last week. The benchmark index tested the resistance levels for four sessions but failed to convincingly break above them, before sharply retreating on Monday, with the session's candlestick on the chart showing a bearish engulfing pattern, a strongly negative technical signal. The index's hourly chart also show divergence between the index's gains since Oct. 11 and its relative strength index (RSI), whose peaks have shown a declining trend, signalling further losses to come. MARKET SNAPSHOT AT 0623 GMT LAST PCT CHG NET CHG S&P 500 1,200.86 -1.94 % -23.72 NIKKEI 8,741.91 -1.55 % -137.69 MSCI ASIA EX-JP -2.94 % -14.06 EUR/USD 1.3752 0.15 % 0.0020 USD/JPY 76.79 -0.05 % -0.0400 10-YR US TSY YLD 2.153 -- 0.00 10-YR BUND YLD 2.043 -- -0.06 SPOT GOLD $1,665.20 -0.34 % -$5.70 US CRUDE $86.06 -0.37 % -0.32 GLOBAL MARKETS-German comments, China slowdown hit stocks Germany's caution on debt plan sinks Wall St Nikkei slips from 6-wk high, hurt by euro zone doubts Euro off 1-mth high as crisis plan optimism ebbs Gold steady after Germany warns about debt plan Copper falls as German comments, China GDP weigh Brent slips below $110 as China growth slows COMPANY NEWS: FRENCH BANKS Moody's warned on Monday it may slap a negative outlook on France's Aaa credit rating in the next three months if the costs for helping to bail out banks and other euro zone members stretch its budget too much. DEXIA The European Commission said it would open an in-depth investigation into Belgium's nationalisation of the Belgian banking arm of Franco-Belgian Dexia, while temporarily allowing it to proceed. LVMH , the world's biggest luxury group, posted forecast-beating third-quarter sales growth on Tuesday and said it was confident for the rest of 2011, giving no signs of a slowdown in the luxury industry despite the slowing economy. DANONE French food group Danone said on Tuesday that softening commodity prices, robust growth in emerging markets and the expected benefits from the integration of Unimilk in Russia made it confident for 2012. AIR FRANCE-KLM The carrier brought back its former chief executive and hired a former defence industry and government official to run its core French network with a brief to improve the performance of Europe's largest airline by revenue as a "top priority". UNICREDIT The board of UniCredit meets on Tuesday as Italy's biggest bank by assets weighs options to shore up its capital position ahead of an EU summit that is expected to include a plan to recapitalise the region's banks. SANTANDER The Eurozone's largest bank is in talks to sell a third of its real estate assets valued at 3 billion euros ($4.1 billion)to two risk capital funds, Expansion reported citing sources close to the talks. EUROPEAN BANKS Deutsche Bank analysts on Monday outlined a way for banks to contribute a 40 percent "haircut" on Greek sovereign debt without substantially changing the terms of July's debt-relief deal. BANCA POPOLARE MILANO The head of Italian private equity fund Investindustrial said on Monday he is ready to invest up to 150 million euros in Banca Popolare di Milano as the campaign to take charge of the co-operative bank gathers pace. WHITBREAD Britain's biggest hotel and coffee shop operator reported a higher-than-expected first-half pretax profit and ramped up its interim dividend by over 50 percent. XSTRATA The miner posted record thermal coal production in the third quarter and a more than 7 percent rise in overall coal output, thanks to the start of operations at its Mangoola mine and an ongoing recovery from a flood-hit start to 2011. ENBW The OEW group, a large shareholder in German utility EnBW is ready to provide fresh capital to the utility, which has been hit by Germany's decision to exit nuclear power, the head of the OEW said. METRO Juergen Kluge has stepped down as head of the supervisory board at Metro, leaving the German retailer seeking both a chairman and chief executive. L'OREAL The cosmetics-maker heiress Liliane Bettencourt's daughter won control over her 88-year-old mother's business affairs on Monday almost two years after she first asked to take over on the grounds her mother had been exploited.

Source: Reuters

The Role of Appliances in House Fires

31.12.69

Though the risk of a fire as a result of a defective appliance has decreased in recent years, appliances should still be examined as a potential ignition source, says a forensic expert.

In an interview with Claims Journal, John Mulcahy, a forensic electrical engineer with NEFCO Fire Investigations, described the hazards and common safety features found in appliances and how the names of manufacturers are identified post-fire.

A typical house has 4000 feet of electrical wiring, 70 switches and receptacles, and approximately 25 lamps and lights, according to Mulcahy. In addition, most homes have 25 or so large and small appliances including dishwashers, stoves, microwaves and blow-dryers.

Because of the number of electricity reliant appliances in a home, there are a number of things that can go wrong, Mulcahy said. “Many appliances…are very safe; however, it is possible for a manufacturing defect to come through. Many of these appliances produce heat. If one of the protectant features fail, excessive heat is developed and can set fire to appliances and surrounding material.”

Source: ClaimsJournal.com