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Good US jobs data fail to lift stocks Posted: 02 Nov 2012 05:35 PM PDT NEW YORK: An encouraging October jobs report gave shares an early bump Friday but the gains were all quickly lost and the main indices ended in the red, as caution grew ahead of next Tuesday's election. Although the jobless rate ticked up to 7.9 per cent, the fact that the economy could pump out 171,000 net new jobs last month was seen as good for President Barack Obama and a negative for challenger Mitt Romney, the Wall Street favourite. The markets also were pulled down by Apple's 3.3 per cent fall, amid a lukewarm reception for its new iPad mini. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 139.46 points (1.05 per cent) at 13,093.16. The broad-based S&P 500 fell 13.39 (0.94 per cent) to 1,414.20, and the Nasdaq Composite lost 37.93 (1.26 per cent) at 2,982.13. The jobs data was a good sign for the economy, analysts said. "The October payroll survey showed a brighter picture of the labor market, both in faster headline job creation and in upward revisions to previous months," said Nigel Gault of IHS Global Insight. In stocks, insurer AIG fell 7.2 per cent despite its third-quarter earnings handily beating estimates as the company swung into the black, earning $1.9 billion. But worries about the costs to the economy from Hurricane Sandy, which could lead to insured losses industry-wide of $20 billion according to estimates, kept a cloud over the shares. "We are seeing continued momentum, and we're building for the future by creating a more streamlined, efficient, and nimble company," AIG chief executive Robert Benmosche said in a statement. Other insurers took a hit. Hartford Financial fell 3.0 per cent, and Travelers 0.9 per cent. Power companies hit by extended outages in the storm sank: Exelon fell 2.4 per cent, Con Ed lost 0.9 per cent and New Jersey's PSEG was down 0.2 per cent. Mining companies weakened amid a sharp fall in gold prices: Freeport McMoRan lost 3.1 per cent and Newmont Mining lost 8.4 per cent. Chevron, the oil giant, dropped 2.8 per cent after reporting a fall in quarterly profit due to lower crude output. Among gainers, Starbucks added 9.1 per cent after turning in strong earnings and boosting its dividend. -- AFP

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Latest Jobs Report Shows Persistent Economic Growth - New York Times Posted: 02 Nov 2012 09:16 AM PDT By CATHERINE RAMPELL Published: November 2, 2012 The nation's employers added 171,000 positions in October, the Labor Department reported on Friday, and more jobs than initially estimated in both August and September. Hiring was broad-based, with just about every industry except state government adding jobs. The unemployment rate ticked up slightly to 7.9 percent in October from 7.8 percent in September, because more workers joined the labor force and so officially became counted as unemployed. None of this makes for a game-changer in the presidential election, analysts said. But it appeared to provide some comfort for President Obama, whose campaign could have been sideswiped by bad news from the notoriously volatile monthly jobs report. In fact, the latest numbers show that the economy has finally added a net number of new jobs under his presidency. The report also allayed widespread suspicion that September's plunge in the unemployment rate — to below 8 percent for the first time since the month he took office — might have been a one-month statistical fluke. "Generally, the report shows that things are better than we'd expected and certainly better than we'd thought a few months ago," said Paul Dales, senior United States economist for Capital Economics. "But we're still not making enough progress to bring that unemployment rate down significantly and rapidly." Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential nominee, said in a statement that the jobs report was evidence of the need to change the nation's economic policies. "Today's increase in the unemployment rate is a sad reminder that the economy is at a virtual standstill," he said. He also noted that October's unemployment rate of 7.9 percent was higher than the 7.8 percent when Mr. Obama took office in January 2009. Economists were hopeful that once the election was over and Congress addressed the major fiscal tightening scheduled for the end of this year, job growth could speed up further. "If we can do this kind of job growth with all the uncertainty out there, imagine if we were to clear up those tax issues and hold back the majority of tax increases that are pending at the end of the year," said John Ryding, chief economist at RDQ Economics. "We could do much better in 2013, maybe as well as we appeared to be doing earlier this year." In October, the biggest job gains were in professional and business services, health care and retail trade, the Labor Department said. Government payrolls dipped slightly. State and local governments have been shedding jobs most months over the last three years. One of the lowlights of the report was in hourly wages, which remained flat in October after showing barely any growth in the previous several months. "Perhaps the decline in real wages is a factor here in being able to employ more people," Mr. Ryding said. "It's something to keep in mind when we think about creating jobs and whether we're maybe creating the wrong sort of jobs." A report from the National Employment Law Project, a liberal research and advocacy organization that focuses on labor issues, found that while the majority of jobs lost in the downturn were middle-wage jobs, the majority of the jobs created since then have been lower-wage ones. There have now been 25 straight months of jobs gains in the United States, but the increases have been barely large enough to absorb the increase in the population. A queue of about 12 million unemployed people remain waiting for work, about two out of five of whom have been out of a job for more than six months. That is in addition to more than eight million people who are working part-time but really want full-time jobs. "I'm not just competing against all the other people who are out of work," said Griff Coxey, 57, of Cascade, Wis., who was laid off in May from his controller job at a small business. "I'm also competing against all those people who are actually working but are underemployed." Like two million other idle workers, Mr. Coxey is scheduled to lose his unemployment benefits the last week of the year, when the federal extensions abruptly expire. He said he still has some savings to fall back on, but many workers do not. Labor advocates and many economists have been urging Congress to renew the benefits as part of their discussions of the "fiscal cliff" during their postelection session. So far, though, the issue has received little attention, and analysts worry that ending extended benefits could disrupt what modest forward momentum the economy currently has. "Federal unemployment benefits are one of the most effective stimuli we have," said Christine L. Owens, the executive director of the National Employment Law Project. "The recovery is still fragile," she said, "and to pull that amount of income and expenditure out of the economy — particularly at a time when people thinking about the holiday season — will have a significant impact on not just those individuals and their families but the economy as a whole." Friday's jobs report was unlikely to affect policy from the Federal Reserve, which has pledged open-ended stimulus until the job market improves "substantially." "The Fed desires both a substantial and sustainable improvement in labor market conditions and is likely to read recent payroll growth as a positive step in the right direction, but just one step in a longer journey," said Michael Gapen, director of United States research and global asset allocation at Barclays Capital. The jobs snapshot for October was based on surveys conducted too early in the month to capture work disruptions across the East Coast caused by Hurricane Sandy. Economists expect that businesses and employment will resume their normal activity by the next jobs survey, in mid-November, and that some industries will likely show an increase in hiring precisely because of the storm. "We had a lot of lost hours worked and production stuff still delayed, but much of that will be offsets by hiring of emergency workers, government workers and construction, to do all that emergency fixing," said Ms. Swonk.

Mitt Romney's Pennsylvania gamble - Politico Posted: 02 Nov 2012 09:19 AM PDT Until a week ago, Pennsylvania was virtually an afterthought in the presidential race. Now, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are making a late advertising and in-person push in the state, parachuting into the Keystone State this weekend for last-minute visits with scant days left to go in the race. It's a move that the Romney team bills as expanding the map and a sign of strength, Democrats call an act of desperation and observers within the state say is unlikely to pay off next Tuesday. Continue Reading Gibbs: Romney is 'desperate' The news that Romney will campaign on Sunday in vote-rich Bucks County, a suburban Philadelphia area, and Ryan will stump in the Harrisburg area in central Pennsylvania on Saturday — coupled with more than $10 million in recent ad buys by the Romney campaign, the Republican National Committee and the pro-Romney super PAC there — is raising questions about whether the GOP ticket has a real chance there. Not a single poll in the state since the start of the general election has shown Romney ahead, but he is closing in on the president. The most recent Real Clear Politics average in the state gives Obama a 4.6 percentage-point lead, and most polls in the last month put the president's advantage anywhere between 4 and 8 points. There has been movement since the summer: a Franklin & Marshall poll released last week gave Obama a 4-point lead, compared with an 11-point lead in mid-September. Terry Madonna, a longtime Pennsylvania pollster who conducts the F&M poll, said the tightening of the race in the state has largely been a reflection of what's happened in national polls rather than a sign that Pennsylvania in particular has become more amenable to a Romney victory. "Romney has gone from a 7, 8, 9, 10-point deficit to a 4, 5, 6-point deficit in this state," he said. "Without being here, that's principally [based] on the tightening of the election nationally." Romney political director Rich Beeson released a memo earlier this week outlining Romney's ability to play in Pennsylvania. "Pennsylvania presents a unique opportunity for the Romney campaign. Over the past few years we have seen Pennsylvania voting for a Republican senator and a Republican governor, and Republicans win control of the State House in addition to the State Senate," Beeson wrote Tuesday. "The western part of the Keystone State has become more conservative (and President Obama's war on coal is very unpopular there), and Mitt Romney is more competitive in the voter-rich Philadelphia suburbs than any Republican nominee since 1988. This makes Pennsylvania a natural next step as we expand the playing field." But Pennsylvania is what pollsters there called the perennial "fools' gold" state for Republicans. For more than two decades, the GOP nominee has invested precious time and money in the state with no electoral votes to show for it. The last Republican to win Pennsylvania was George H.W. Bush in 1988; John McCain's campaign invested a huge amount of time and money there in 2008 but still lost the state by 10 points. "Republican candidates have come here hundreds of times and spent millions of dollars — and come away with no electoral votes," said Chris Borick, who conducts Muhlenberg College's polling in the state. "So the record isn't good, and if Romney fails here after spending a lot of money and some time at the most crucial part of the election, there's going to be a lot of second-guessing." Obama's team calls the Romney focus on Pennsylvania a sign his campaign is "flailing." "In an act of sheer desperation, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are going all-in in Pennsylvania, following the lead of every Republican presidential candidate since 1992 who have made last ditch investments in the Keystone State," Obama spokesman Michael Czin said. "Not one of them carried the state. With less than a week to go and consistently down in must-win states, Mitt Romney's campaign is desperately trying to find a path to 270 electoral votes with no avail." Madonna, too, said Romney's interest in Pennsylvania is likely because he's not making the progress his campaign would like to see in Ohio — which public polls show a tight race, but Obama consistently leading. No Republican has won the White House without capturing Ohio. "There's no other reason to be here if he was going to win Ohio," Madonna said. "If he thought he had Ohio wrapped up, you'd think he would stay there and make sure he keeps it wrapped up, because it's too much of a gamble to come to Pennsylvania." There are factors working in Romney's favor in Pennsylvania, though: Republicans have been on the rise there, with a 2010 midterm wave giving the state a new Republican senator, a handful of GOP U.S. House members and shifting the state legislature toward the GOP as well. Madonna said a victory in the state would be "doable for Romney but a very, very tough road." And given the total lack of attention paid to the state for most of the presidential campaign, both candidates are less defined there and there's probably more room to shift the tide than there would be in a state that's already been saturated by TV ads and candidate visits. "Unlike a place like Ohio, where they've been bombarded for months with campaign visits and campaign ads and maybe have come to the point where no one's moving, no one's really seen much of this race at all in Pennsylvania," Borick. "The idea that if you drop, between the super PACs and the campaign, $15 million… maybe you move the dial." And in suburban Philadelphia, he said — the handful of counties where all Pennsylvania statewide races are won or lost — Romney is an appealing candidate. "In suburban Philadelphia, someone that had the career that Mitt Romney had might not be looked at as an alien – it might not be so removed from their lives that they say, 'I can't relate to this guy,'" Borick said. "It's a generally wealthier region, highly educated, a lot of people in the business field, and a lot that at least would be open to taking a look at Romney, especially if they're not satisfied with [Obama]." Obama's team isn't taking chances: the campaign quickly announced it would counter Romney's ad buy there, and is sending in Jill Biden and Bill Clinton as reinforcements in the state between now and Election Day. But Borick said it's hard to tell what's behind the Romney campaign's latest move – and that it won't be totally clear until Tuesday. "Is it optimism or an act of desperation? I guess the Romney campaign can tell you that," Borick said. "But the reality is that they're back here, and that means they're trying to make something out of the state."

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Kenanga ups SapuraKencana’s fair value Posted: 01 Nov 2012 06:38 PM PDT Kenanga Research raised SapuraKencana Petroleum Bhd's fair value to RM2.90 from RM2.80 after the oil and gas services firm secured two new contracts worth a total of RM836 million (273.92 million). "We are positive on the wins," the research house said in a note on Friday. "Despite being marginal in terms of value, the cumulative contract of RM1 billion (327.65 million) for 2012, illustrates SapuraKencana's market dominance in the local fabrication scene." Kenanga maintained an 'outperform' on the counter, and said it was positive on the company due to its domestic EPCIC (engineering, procurement, construction, installation and commission) market dominance and reputable international global track record. The counter rose 1.53 per cent to RM2.65 per share, outperforming the broader index's 0.11 per cent drop. - Reuters

Investors cry foul over KFC privatising Posted: 01 Nov 2012 06:41 PM PDT KUALA LUMPUR: A 1.7 billion bid for Malaysia's two main KFC fast food franchisees faces a growing chorus of opposition from investors challenging the terms of the offer that is nearly a year old and now looks to them badly undervalued. A showdown is looming on Nov. 5 and 6, when shareholders vote on the deal. Some investors contacted by Reuters said they planne to vote against the bid but it was not clear if they had enough firepower to do so. The bid for KFC Holdings (Malaysia) Bhd and QSR Brands Bhd was made last December by the investment arm of Malaysia's Johor state and CVC Capital Partners. The Employee Provident Fund joined the consortium in May. But it was only in October that the companies called extraordinary general meetings. They have not explained the delay. It is a long enough period, opposing shareholders argue, to mean that the bid price no longer represents the true value of the companies after what has been a prolonged retail sector boom, with prospects for it to continue. What is not clear is whether those minority shareholders can muster enough support to prevent its backers winning the 75 percent of the votes they need to pass the acquisition. But they may be helped by the fact that Johor Corp, top shareholder of both KFC and QSR, is not eligible to vote on the deal because it made the offer. Johor Corp and related parties own nearly half of KFC and about 60 percent of QSR. Share prices in the two firms have hovered around last December's bid price. In the same period, shares in other Malaysian consumer companies have soared as much as 70 percent as household spending has jumped, helped by generous government handouts ahead of a hotly contested national election. "Comparing the companies with their peers based on last year's multiples? is not relevant," said Jonathan Foster, Singapore-based director of global special situations at Religare Capital Markets. Religare does not own shares in either of the companies. "If it is based on current multiples, KFC and QSR are quite undervalued." Independent advisers for both KFC and QSR have recommended shareholders accept the offer. Also, shares of the two companies trade at a discount of just about 3 percent to the offer prices. That suggests the market expects the deal to go through. A discount of 15 percent or more, known as a merger arbitrage spread, signals investors expect a deal to fail. UNHAPPY SHAREHOLDERS Reuters contacted eight shareholders representing around 38 percent of the total shares outstanding of KFC and 16 percent in QSR. Two said they intended to vote against the proposal and one planned to vote in favour for the lack of a better alternative. The rest declined to comment. The two holders intending to vote against the deal are based outside Malaysia and represent about 5 percent of KFC shares and 3 percent of QSR. They said both companies had stopped paying dividends since receiving the offer last December, the negotiations had dragged on too long and too little information was shared with minority shareholders. QSR and Johor did not respond to requests for comment. CVC declined to comment. A KFC official said shareholders will have the opportunity to voice their concerns at the meetings, scheduled for Nov. 5 and 6. Malaysian consumer stocks have enjoyed a strong run this year as pre-election government giveaways boosted domestic spending. Nestle (Malaysia) Bhd has risen about 23 percent to date, while Berjaya Food Bhd and Oldtown Bhd , have risen between 60 percent and 70 percent this year, benefitting from strong domestic consumption and solid economic growth. Shares of KFC and QSR's sector peers are up an average of 28 percent this year, compared with a 9 percent rise in the broader index, according to Thomson Reuters data. By contrast, KFC's shares are up 2 percent and QSR's 1 percent. Both companies lag on a current price-to-earnings ratio basis. Berjaya Food and Oldtown trade at 23.50 times and 14.68 times, respectively, more than double where they were last December when the KFC franchisees received their takeover bids. -Reuters

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Romney back to campaign attacks on Obama after Sandy pause - Reuters Posted: 01 Nov 2012 09:06 AM PDT By Steve Holland ROANOKE, Virginia | Thu Nov 1, 2012 12:31pm EDT (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney returned to campaign attacks against President Barack Obama on Thursday after a pause for the storm Sandy, hitting the Democrat for proposing more government bureaucracy. Romney swept into must-win Virginia looking to increase turnout among Republican voters in a conservative area of the state to help offset the Democrats' advantage the northern area. Virginia went for Obama in 2008 but may flip for the Republican this year. "Turnout here makes a big difference," Romney told a crowd gathered inside a window and door factory. With the race too close to call in the final five days before Tuesday's election, Romney is engaged in a frenzy of campaigning in battleground states that will likely decide the race. The former governor of Massachusetts had not mentioned Obama's name in two days of events this week as he toned down campaign rhetoric while Americans along the East Coast reeled from the superstorm Sandy. But with the recovery now under way, Romney resumed his standard campaign fare of singling out the president for criticism. He leaped on a comment that Obama made in an interview aired by MSNBC on Monday in which the president said he would like to create a new government agency headed by a "secretary of business' to try to help businesses create jobs. "I've said that I want to consolidate a whole bunch of government agencies. We should have one Secretary of Business, instead of nine different departments that are dealing with things like giving loans to SBA (the Small Business Administration) or helping companies with exports," Obama had said. This comment bolstered Romney's charge that the president wants to expand government rather than boost the private sector. "I don't think adding a new chair to his cabinet will help add millions of jobs on Main Street," Romney said. Romney's schedule in the coming days is a mix of travel in swing states and at least one effort to expand his campaign into Wisconsin, a state that has gone Democratic the last several elections. He is to travel to Wisconsin on Friday and then visit Ohio, a state a Republican candidate normally has to win in order to take the White House. He also has weekend plans to visit New Hampshire, Iowa, Colorado and Nevada in the battle to put together the 270 electoral votes that are needed for election. (Editing by Alistair Bell and Vicki Allen)

Sandy recovery: Death toll up, gasoline lines grow after monster storm - Chicago Tribune Posted: 01 Nov 2012 09:03 AM PDT The New York City subway system was paralyzed when Superstorm Sandy poured seawater into the underground tunnels. Jim Axelrod reports on what it's going to take to get it back up and running. NEW YORK— Subways started running again in much of New York City on Thursday for the first time since Superstorm Sandy, but traffic at bridges backed up for miles, long lines formed at gas stations, and crowds of hundreds of people, some with short tempers, waited for buses. Lines formed at gas stations amid fuel shortages around the U.S. Northeast and emergency utility crews struggled to reach the worst hit areas and restore power to millions of people. At least 82 people in North America died in the superstorm, which ravaged the northeastern United States on Monday night, and officials said the count could climb higher as rescuers searched house-to-house through coastal towns. More deaths were recorded overnight as the extent of destruction became clearer in the New York City borough of Staten Island, where the storm lifted whole houses off their foundations. Authorities recovered 15 bodies from Staten Island. Among those still missing were two boys aged 4 and 2 who were swept from their mother's arms by the floodwaters, the New York Post reported. In all, 34 people died in New York City. In hard-hit New Jersey, where oceanside towns saw entire neighborhoods swallowed by seawater and the Atlantic City boardwalk was destroyed, the death toll doubled to 12. The trains couldn't take some New Yorkers where they needed to go. There was no service in downtown Manhattan and other hard-hit parts of the city, and people had to switch to buses. But some of those who did use the subway, after three days without service, were grateful. About 4.7 million homes and businesses in 12 U.S. states remained without power early Thursday as utilities scrambled to restore service disrupted by Sandy, U.S. Department of Energy data showed. Power companies had restored electricity to more than 3 million customers across states on the East Coast. In total, Sandy left more than 8 million customers in 21 states from North Carolina to Maine when the storm came ashore in New Jersey late Monday. Three days after Sandy slammed the mid-Atlantic and the Northeast, New York and New Jersey struggled to get back on their feet, the U.S. death toll stood at more than 70, and more than 4.6 million homes and businesses were still without power. Nearly 20,000 people remained stranded in their homes by floodwaters in Hoboken, N.J., across the river from the New York, and swaths of the New Jersey coastline lay in ruins, with countless homes, piers and boardwalks wrecked. Downtown Manhattan, which includes the financial district, Sept. 11 memorial and other tourist sites, was still mostly an urban landscape of shuttered bodegas and boarded-up restaurants. People roamed in search of food, power and a hot shower. Some dispirited and fearful New Yorkers decided to flee the city. Flights took off and landed Thursday at LaGuardia Airport, the last of the three major New York-area airports to reopen since the storm. With the electricity out and gasoline supplies scarce, many stations across the metropolitan area closed, and the stations that were open drew long lines of cars that spilled out onto roads. New Jersey power company Public Service Enterprise Group Inc (PSEG) CEO Ralph Izzo said on Thursday that Hurricane Sandy's tidal surge caused significant damage to the electric transmission system and some switching stations. The storm left 1.7 million customers without service at the peak, he said, adding that the company has already restored service to about a million. The Associated Press and Reuters contributed.

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Kenanga ups Tenaga's target price Posted: 31 Oct 2012 07:13 PM PDT Kenanga Research raised its target price on Tenaga Nasional Bhd to RM8.05 from RM7.90 after Malaysia's largest energy provider posted a full-year net profit of RM3.35 billion in line with market estimates. The brokerage maintained its "outperform" call on the stock. Costs for the financial year ended Aug. 31 were contained with higher coal usage and gas supply, said Kenanga in a report on Thursday. Kenanga added that the downside risk to Tenaga is limited after assurance from the government that compensations for fuel costs will continue, as asserted by the company this week. Discounting the compensation of RM1.48 billion for the full year, net profit rose 34.2 percent to RM2.9 billion from RM2.2 billion. Shares of the company rose 0.72 percent to RM7. -- Reuters

Carlsberg gets 'outperform' call Posted: 31 Oct 2012 07:13 PM PDT Kenanga Research initiated coverage of Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia Berhad with an "outperform" call, given the brewer's strength in the niche beer market. The brewer has the second-biggest market share in Malaysia, at 40 percent. The firm's niche products will help the company expand market share by 1.5 percent by June, Kenanga said in a note on Thursday. "Carlsberg is the leader in the super premium segment, albeit the segment is still relatively new and small," Kenanga said. "We believe that Carlsberg will be better positioned to compete with Guninness Anchor Berhad with its new locally brewed Asahi and the fast-growing Kronenbourg." Kenanga set a target price of RM14.10 per share. At 9.38 am, Carlsberg shares were down 0.46 percent at RM13.02, while the benchmark composite index was up 0.22 percent at 1,676.95. -- Reuters

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Superstorm Sandy: State-by-state snapshot - CBS News Posted: 31 Oct 2012 08:47 AM PDT Last Updated 11:36 a.m. ET The massive storm that started out as Hurricane Sandy slammed into the East Coast and morphed into a huge and problematic system, killing at least 55 people in the United States. Power outages now stand at more than 6.3 million homes and businesses, down from a peak of 8.5 million. Here's a snapshot of what is happening, state by state. Connecticut Play Video Sandy leaves Conn. families without power Widespread damage to homes on Long Island Sound. Fires also destroyed three multimillion-dollar homes in Greenwich. The body of a missing man has been recovered in Milford, bringing the state's death toll from superstorm Sandy to three. Power outages: 482,000, down from a peak of more than 620,000. The Coast Guard says operations are resuming in the Port of Long Island Sound. Delaware Some southern coastal areas remain underwater, but officials say the damage is far less than anticipated. Power outages: 7,400, down from more than 45,000. Illinois High waves and flooding are possible on the Lake Michigan shore on Wednesday in Chicago. Kentucky As much as a foot of snow fell in higher elevations of Appalachian Kentucky. 29 Photos Superstorm Sandy: State-by-state snapshots Maine Port of Portland reopened, but ocean conditions remained dangerous with high winds. Power outages: More than 16,000, down from more than 90,000. Maryland Eastern Maryland cleaned up from storm surge, while western Maryland dealt with as much as 29 inches of snow. Dueling disasters are straining emergency resources. Deaths: 2. Power outages: Nearly 300,000, down from 290,000. Massachusetts Continued cleanup from fallen trees and damage to homes and businesses, but relief that storm wasn't worse. Many schools remained closed. Power outages: 106,000, down from 400,000. Michigan Cargo shipping on the Great Lakes was at a standstill because of waves of up to 20 feet. Power outages: 40,600, down from more than 150,000. New Hampshire A construction worker checking on a job site in Lincoln was killed in a landslide. Deaths: 1. Power outages: 81,000, down from 210,000. New Jersey Fires that destroyed several homes in a shore town rekindled, fueled by natural gas. National Guard arrived to evacuate residents of Hoboken and distribute supplies. Play Video Responders rush to rescue flooded N.J. Town Play Video Officials: Several N.J. Barrier island beaches disappeared CBS News correspondent Elaine Quijano reports that the only firehouse in Moonachie, N.J., was destroyed. Teams from surrounding towns joined the New Jersey National Guard in the effort to save hundreds of people. "We can only get so close to the homes, so if we have to get out of the vehicle and assist getting them up, we will," Staff Sgt. Katie Cataldo told Quijano. President Barack Obama planned to visit Atlantic City, N.J., which was directly in the storm's path Monday night and where part of the historic boardwalk washed away. Gov. Chris Christie said he plans to ask the president to assign the Army Corps of Engineers to work on how to rebuild beaches and find "the best way to rebuild the beach to protect these towns." Outages in the state's two largest cities, Newark and Jersey City, left traffic signals dark, resulting in fender-benders at intersections where police were not directing traffic. At one Jersey City supermarket, there were long lines to get bread and use an electrical outlet to charge cellphones. Deaths: 6. Power outages: 2.1 million, down from 2.7 million. New York Play Video Breezy Point, Queens goes up in flames Traffic choked city streets as residents tried to return to work in a New York City whose subway system remained crippled. Security concerns abound at night in areas without power but the city is promising vigilance. Utilities say it could be days before power is fully restored there and on Long Island. While some bus service resumed and some bridges reopened, transit officials said they couldn't predict when the subway would run again after suffering the worst damage in its 108-year history. Mayor Michael Bloomberg rang the bell at the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday morning, reopening it after a rare two-day closure. Deaths: 29, including 22 in New York City. Power outages: 1.9 million, down from 2.2 million. North Carolina Play Video Video: Dramatic HMS Bounty ship rescue The search continued off the coast for the captain of a tall ship that sank as Sandy headed north. Parts of western North Carolina saw continued snow. Deaths: 2. Power outages: Fewer than 400, down from 126,000. Ohio High winds uprooted trees in northern Ohio. Schools closed and major commuter arteries along Lake Erie flooded. Deaths: 2. Power outages: 147,000, down from more than 250,000. Play Video Sandy dumps snow on Western Penn. Pennsylvania The core of Sandy made its way north through western Pennsylvania into western New York, causing wind and flooding that closed roads. Deaths: 7. Power outages: 850,000, down from 1.2 million. Rhode Island Residents may not be able to return to their homes for another day in some coastal communities. Power outages: About 48,000, down from more than 115,000. Tennessee A route across the Smoky Mountains closed as heavy, wet snow accumulated to as much as 2 feet. Vermont Winds knocked down trees and power lines, and schools were closed, but damage was not as severe as feared in a state still recovering from Tropical Storm Irene. Power outages: 3,550, down from more than 10,000. Virginia Utilities brought in crews to help restore power after high winds and snow. Deaths: 2. Power outages: about 40,000, down from more than 180,000. Washington, D.C. Federal and local governments asked people to return to work Wednesday, and transit systems planned to resume full service. Power outages: Fewer than 500, down from 25,000. West Virginia Play Video Superstorm Sandy snowfall shuts down W. Va. town Some areas were buried under more than a foot of snow. The interstate was shut down overnight from Morgantown to the Maryland line after five tractor-trailers jack-knifed. Officials confirmed five Sandy-related deaths in the state. One was Republican legislative candidate John Rose Sr., who was struck by a falling tree on his farm in Barbour County, according to his son. Power outages: 235,566, down from about 268,000. Wisconsin Dangerously high waves and flooding were expected along Lake Michigan.

Obama, Romney restart campaigns, try to refocus Americans after historic storm - Fox News Posted: 31 Oct 2012 08:41 AM PDT FILE: Oct 16, 2012: Mitt Romney and President Obama walks past each other at the end of their last debate at Lynn University, in Boca Raton, Fla.AP With just six days before Americans pick their next president, the Obama and Romney campaigns faced the monumental task of refocusing attention on the election as millions of potential voters dealt with the historic devastation of monster storm Sandy. Mitt Romney returned to the campaign trail Wednesday with three stops in Florida – Tampa, Miami and Jacksonville – attempting to win a battleground state in which most polls show him with a slight lead. Romney began the Tampa rally by asking Americans to help the storm victims, then resumed his argument that he can improve the country's bleak economic situation. "This (election) should be a turning point," Romney said. "Twenty three million Americans are still struggling to find a job. ... This hasn't happened in American history." Though President Obama has suspended official campaign events, his tour of storm-ravaged New Jersey will more than likely attract the most voter attention and provide an opportunity for him to highlight his abilities as commander-in-chief with six days remaining before Election Day. Obama is expected to return to the trail Thursday with stops in the battleground states of Colorado, Nevada and Wisconsin, while the campaigns appear to also be re-engaging in Michigan, Minnesota and Pennsylvania.  The Romney campaign is also plunging into the Democratic-leaning states of Minnesota and Pennsylvania, forcing the Obama campaign to spend money there on TV ads and dispatching top backers. The move has raised question among voters, campaign strategists and others about whether Romney is searching for a last-minute path to the 270 Electoral College votes without all-important Ohio, or whether he's so confident in the most competitive battlegrounds that he can try to expand the so-called electoral map. "It makes sense," Democratic strategist David Heller said Wednesday. "It's not a resource allocation issue. If you have the money to do everything you need to do in those battleground states, why wouldn't you? There's no downside." Former President Bill Clinton made two campaign stops Tuesday in Minnesota, which has 10 electoral votes but hasn't voted for a Republican presidential candidate since Richard Nixon in 1972. "Barack Obama's policies work better," Clinton declared on the University of Minnesota campus. An averaging of polls by the website RealClearPoltics has the race tied at 49 percent. Of the nine states where the candidates have spent more than $1 billion in advertising since June, Romney is in the strongest position in North Carolina. But public and internal campaign polls show he's locked in tight battles in Colorado, Florida, New Hampshire, Nevada and Virginia and is fighting to overtake Obama's advantage in Ohio, Iowa and Wisconsin. Vice President Joe Biden makes two stops Wednesday in Florida, while Romney's running mate Rep. Paul Ryan attends three rallies in his home state of Wisconsin. Clinton's Minnesota visit came just days after Romney and his allies started airing TV ads in the state. GOP-leaning groups including Americans for Job Security and American Future Fund were spending $615,000 this week. Romney spent a much lighter $29,000 last week, and it was unclear how much his campaign was spending this week. The combined effort forced Obama to try to prevent the state from slipping out of his grasp. His campaign was spending $210,000 on ads in Minnesota this week. Polls show Romney having gained ground in Minnesota though still trailing Obama. And Obama has a much larger campaign footprint of paid staff and volunteers, including more than 30 full-time workers and 12 offices. Romney never has established much of a campaign organization in Minnesota. In Pennsylvania, Romney's campaign started pouring money into TV ads Monday for the first time, though Republican-leaning groups have been on the air in recent days trying to narrow the Obama advantage. American Crossroads, Restore Our Future and Americans for Job Security are spending at least $3.9 million this week. A poll of Pennsylvania votes released Wednesday by Franklin & Marshall College shows Romney closing Obama's lead among likely voters – from 9 percentage points in September to 4 in October. GOP allies also were running TV ads in Democratic-tilting Michigan in hopes of softening the ground for Romney in the final days, but there was no indication yet that the Republican himself would make a strong 11th-hour play for the state where he was born and raised. Obama's team said late Tuesday that it was answering Restore Our Future's $2 million in ads in Michigan, which has 16 electoral votes. Obama's team cast Romney's moves into the three states, which have trended Democrat for more than 20 years, as a desperate act by a candidate who hasn't locked up the states he needs for a White House win. "They understand they're not going to be able to win Ohio and now they're getting desperate and want to be able to put other states in play," said Obama campaign manager Jim Messina. "We're going to win Pennsylvania, but we aren't taking anything for granted." Romney political director Rich Beeson said, "This expansion of the electoral map demonstrates that Governor Romney's momentum has jumped containment from the usual target states." The Associated Press contributed to this report.   Print   Email   Share   Comments Recommend Tweet Share This Article Newsletter Signup Sign up for free e-mail news alerts from FoxNews.com and FoxBusiness.com. Newsletter Signup

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MAHB may take up stake in Aranmula Posted: 30 Oct 2012 06:48 PM PDT NEW DELHI: Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) may take up 15 per cent stake in the KGS Aranmula International Airport Ltd, being built in Aranmula, a temple town in South Indian state, Kerala, by Chennai-based KGS Group. The Rs2,000 crore (RM1.12 billion) airport on a 280ha land is expected to start operations in 2014, the "Business Standard" daily reported. "We had some discussions on offering equity to Malaysia Airports. They are already our technical and strategic partners for the project. "We may look at diluting up to 15 per cent," KGS Group Managing Director Gigi George was quoted as saying. Industry sources said the Kerala state government was also keen on taking up about 10 per cent stake in the company. However, George declined to comment, said the report. "We've already acquired the land for the project and the airport is designed to cater to aircraft like Airbus A-320 and Boeing 747," George said. The airport to be privately owned and managed will be able to handle 1,000passengers at a time. This aeropolis is also being developed along with a special economic zone,multi-specialty hospital, shopping mall, star hotels and an international school. MAHB operates and manages 39 airports in Malaysia. They also provide airport management services for New Delhi and Hyderabad international airports in India and Sabiha Gokcen International Airport in Turkey. The world's 11th richest Indian, Anil Ambani-led Reliance group has 15 percent stake in KGS Group. -- BERNAMA

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