Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi defiantly vowed Tuesday to "fight until the last drop of my
blood" to maintain his 41-year hold on power, and he called on supporters to reclaim control after a
week of rebellion that has left his government's authority in tatters. – WP – all Libyan ports have been
temporarily closed, Gaddafi threatened his own country with civil war, the Interior minister announced
plans to defect to the population against Gaddafi’s regime, while calling on members of the army and
security forces to do the same, and reportedly the eastern province is no longer under Gadaffi’s control.
U.S. Shutdown Risk – Republicans and Democrats are preparing plans to avert a government
shutdown next month as both sides refuse to budge over spending cuts. Senate Majority Leader Harry
Reid will bring up a temporary spending measure next week to keep the government operating into
early April. Democrats oppose the Republicans’ spending plan, saying its $61 billion in cuts will harm the
economy. Current spending authority expires on March 4, and if Congress doesn’t enact a plan by then
the government will shut down. – Bloomberg
Saudi Spending BoostSaudi Arabia’s King Abdullah boosted spending on housing by 40 billion
riyals ($10.7 billion), and earmarked more funds for education and social welfare. The social security
budget was raised by 1 billion riyals, according to a statement. King Abdullah also ordered the creation
of 1,200 jobs in supervision rograms and made permanent a 15 percent cost-of-living allowance for
government employees. King Abdullah will return to Saudi Arabia today after receiving medical
treatment for a back injury in the U.S. – Bloomberg
Saudi Arabia – at risk of unrest? Mar 11 could be one of the most important dates for the wave
of Mid East protests - Hundreds of people have backed a Facebook campaign calling for a “day of rage”
across Saudi Arabia in Mar. The Facebook page called for a "revolution of yearning" on March 11 in the
kingdom – Reuters
All eyes on Bahrain as Gulf tremors frighten oil markets - analysts are paying very close attention
to fast-moving events in Bahrain, fearing that clashes between the island's Sunni elite and an aggrieved
Shi'ite majority could embroil the Gulf giants of Iran and Saudi Arabia – London Telegraph
 ‘Ample Evidence of Wars Being Inflationary’ – Gold and the dollar have rallied in almost every
instance of perceived serious geo-political risk, according to a recent Deutsche Bank report. The report
also found that oil has rallied when the Middle East is involved. – Bloomberg/Deutsch Bank
India May Be World’s Largest Economy by 2050, Citigroup Says – India’s economy may expand
more than China’s in the next 10 years if the second-most populous nation lifts curbs on foreign
investment in retail and boosts spending on roads and bridges. Morgan Stanley expects India to
overtake China as the fastest-growing major economy by 2015, according to a report in August. China
may overtake the U.S. to become the largest economy by 2020, and India may surpass China by 2050, a
Citigroup report showed. – Bloomberg et al
Portugal – the country’s debt “D-Day” nears – some European officials are discussing
contingencies ahead of a request from Portugal for aid that could come as early as next month. Portugal
in Mar starts to face massive debt redemptions. Portugal has raised €4.75 billion ($6.5 billion) via bond
sales so far this year. But it now faces redemptions totaling €3.848 billion in maturing Treasury bills in
March. It then has €4.342 billion in bond redemptions in April, followed by €4.933 billion to be paid out
in June. – WSJ

Why Portugal Needs a Bailout in One Chart (Peterson Institute)

Fidelity says average 401K balances hit a 10yr high at the end of last week. The average account
balance rose to $71,500 in 2010, up about 11 percent from the end of 2009 – Bloomberg