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LONDON (MarketWatch) — European shares closed slightly higher Thursday in a shortened final trading session of 2009 as the region wrapped up its best trading year in a decade.

The FTSE Eurofirst 100 rose 0.2% to 3,345.58, in thin trading, with gains for miners and some banks helping tip the region higher.

Among the biggest movers, Lloyds Banking Group rose 1.7 and miner Antofagasta added 1.8% in London, while BT Group dropped 1.6%.

Europe Week Ahead

Europe’s Week Ahead: German cosmetics giant Beiersdorf reports earnings, fashion retailer Next releases its latest trading update and an interest-rate decision from the Bank of England is due. Aude Lagorce reports.

The Dow Jones Stoxx 600 index wasn’t calculated Thursday as some markets, including Germany and Italy, remained closed.

However, 2009 was the index’s strongest year since 1999 as it posted a 27.6% rise following the sharp drop in 2008. In 1999 the index rose around 36%.

Austrian property group Immoeast was the biggest gainer in the Stoxx 600 for the year, rising around 737%, while the common shares of German car maker Volkswagen were the worst performer, shedding 69% of their value since the end of 2008.

Among regional markets, the French CAC 40 index closed up 0.02% at 3,936.33 Thursday easy payday loans.

Over the year, the main French index has risen 22.3%, with oil and gas services group Technip posting the biggest gain, 127%, over that period. The worst performer was GDF Suez , which declined 14.3% over the year. In total, just four stocks in the CAC 40 declined during the year.

The U.K.’s FTSE 100 index ended 0.3% higher at 5,412.88. Since the start of 2009 the index has gained 22.1%, with the mining sector showing the strongest rise.

The year’s biggest individual gainer on the index was Kazakhmys , with a 475% rise in its share price.

Royal Bank of Scotland was the worst performer, dropping 40.9% over the course of the year after the bank needed a further bailout from taxpayers that will take the government’s stake to around 84%. See London Markets for more.

In total, 17 of the FTSE 100 component stocks declined over the course of 2009.

The German market was closed Thursday, but at Wednesday’s close the DAX 30 index was up nearly 24% for the year, with Infineon Technologies surging 353% over the period, while Commerzbank brought up the rear with an 11.4% decline.

Europe Markets: Europe closes higher to end decade-best year

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Wall Street rose at the open on Tuesday after data showed U.S. home prices were unchanged in October, ending five straight months of increases but suggesting a slow stabilization in the sector.

The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) was up 20.63 points, or 0.20 percent, at 10,567.71. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index ( loan until payday.SPX) added 2.16 points, or 0.19 percent, at 1,129.94. The Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) rose 2.75 points, or 0.12 percent, at 2,293.83.

(Reporting by Edward Krudy; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

Wall Street opens up after home price data

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Obama administration is poised to announce loan guarantees to help kick-start the country's nuclear power industry, which hasn't built a new plant in more than three decades.

Congress authorized $18.5 billion for nuclear loan guarantees in 2005, hoping to revive development of the carbon-free source of energy. Investments in nuclear power has dried up on soaring costs following the 1979 accident at Three Mile Island.

But earlier this year, the U.S. Energy Department signaled it was keen to aid the industry and narrowed the list of those likely to receive loan guarantees to four: Southern Co, Constellation Energy, NRG Energy and SCANA Corp.

"When DOE issues their first loan guarantee, that's going to send an important signal to private-sector financing, and Wall Street in particular," said John Keeley, a spokesman for the Nuclear Energy Institute.

Southern, which wants to build two reactors at the Vogtle plant in Georgia, is expected to be awarded the first loan guarantee.

Energy Department officials would not give a specific date on when the details will be announced but said they were committed to restarting the nuclear industry.

"We are on track to announce the first loan guarantee soon," said Stephanie Mueller, a department spokeswoman.

The money allotted would probably support construction of about two to three plants cash advance payday loan. A nuclear power plant can cost $6 billion to $7 billion to build, according to industry estimates.

Even after receiving a guarantee, the companies would still have to complete the licensing process and secure private financing before construction begins.

Barring major delays, actual construction of a plant would not start before 2011, with the first new plant coming on line around 2017 or 2018, according to the nuclear institute.

The nuclear trade group has called for $100 billion in additional loan guarantees for low carbon energy sources to help support replacing aging reactors and to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

U.S. utilities that hope to build new reactors will have to overcome rising construction costs, uncertain cost recovery from customers and lower power demand caused by the recession.

Critics of nuclear power say the projects are too expensive and too risky to receive billions of taxpayer dollars. Environmentalists also raise concerns about the disposal of nuclear waste.

(Additional reporting by Eileen O'Grady in Houston and Tim Gardner in Washington; Editing by Christian Wiessner)

U.S. loans to boost nuclear industry seen soon

Hot News: In Las Vegas, Sports Books in a Pocket

MIAMI (Reuters) – A key informant in the U.S. tax evasion case against Swiss bank UBS AG (UBSN.VX) (UBS.N) has asked a federal court in Florida to postpone the scheduled January 8 start of his prison term so that he can cooperate further with the U.S. government to uncover tax cheats.

Former UBS banker Bradley Birkenfeld, who was sentenced in August to three years and four months in prison for helping a billionaire hide assets from U.S. tax authorities, made the postponement request in a filing this weekend by his lawyer to a U.S. district court in Florida.

The filing also requested a hearing to reconsider the 4O-month sentence imposed on Birkenfeld, a U.S. citizen, by federal Judge William Zloch on August 21.

Birkenfeld's sentencing in August came two days after U.S. and Swiss authorities signed a pact in which Switzerland agreed to reveal the names of about 4,450 wealthy American clients of UBS to U.S. tax investigators.

Supporters of Birkenfeld and whistleblower advocates had criticized the sentence against as too harsh, saying his testimony was pivotal in helping prosecutors to uncover massive tax cheating by U.S. holders of undisclosed UBS accounts.

The critics said the informant's tougher-than-expected treatment would undermine future U.S. efforts to expose secretive offshore tax havens used by tax evaders.

"Since the August 21, 2009, sentencing hearing, Mr. Birkenfeld has been ready, willing and able to cooperate further with the Government" in helping bring cases against other UBS clients suspected of concealing assets from U.S. tax authorities, the filing by attorney David Meier said.

"Accordingly … the defendant respectfully submits that the court should extend the date on which Mr easy fast payday loans. Birkenfeld is to self-report to the Bureau of Prisons (presently scheduled to be January 8, 2010), the document said.

The filing noted that despite the U.S. government's stated intention, expressed at the original sentencing hearing, to continue to use him in its investigations, it had "neither met with Mr. Birkenfeld, not asked him a single question" in the last four months.

The request said an extension of Birkenfeld's voluntary surrender was warranted to give him sufficient time to provide additional assistance to the government.

There was no immediate comment from prosecutors.

Government lawyers had said that by coming forward in the summer of 2007 and volunteering insider information to the Justice Department, Birkenfeld had exposed UBS practices that encouraged tax fraud by U.S. citizens.

The Swiss bank earlier in the year settled criminal charges by paying $780 million, and then promising to name thousands of suspected American tax cheats and exit the U.S. tax-shelter business.

Birkenfeld had pleaded guilty to a single fraud conspiracy count in June 2008 for helping a billionaire client hide assets from the Internal Revenue Service.

Justice Department officials, in a claim disputed by Birkenfeld's supporters, said he received a prison sentence instead of probation because he had initially sought to conceal his personal involvement in tax fraud.

(Editing by Leslie Adler)

UBS whistleblower seeks prison postponement

HANGZHOU, China — Roughly 28,000 young women crowded into the Dragon Sports Arena here for a three-day gathering in September hosted by Mary Kay Cosmetics.

The goal was to pump up the crowd, and the song-and-dance troupe, the video testimonials about transformed lives and the awarding of the signature pink Cadillac to a top earner had the desired effect.

“I love the corporate culture of Mary Kay,” said Zhang Xiaoying, a 19-year-old woman from Guizhou, one of the country’s poorest regions, as she and several colleagues dabbed on makeup during a break in the event. “This company teaches you to aspire to a higher level.”

Ms. Zhang earns very little in her new job. But the promise of future rewards is what has persuaded her and about 200,000 other women to become “beauty consultants,” or independent sales agents, for Mary Kay in China.

Avon and Amway, two other American companies that use independent representatives, have even larger sales forces here. Avon says it recruits up to 50,000 women a month and now has one million agents.

Indeed, as China’s economic boom unfolds here, door-to-door sales and what is known as direct selling is sweeping the country, breathing new life into old American brands and creating hundreds of thousands of jobs, often for disadvantaged or poorly educated young women.

But that growth has not come without controversy. Many direct sellers in China have been accused of operating sophisticated pyramid schemes and other sales swindles. (In one widely publicized case a few years ago, people were conned into buying stakes in ant farms.)

Even American companies operating in China have been accused of manipulating and misleading sales recruits.

“Some of them recruit people in a deceptive way, like you can become super-rich in a month,” says Chen Defa, chairman of the Chinese Academy of Direct Selling Management.

Because of such concerns, China banned direct selling in 1998, saying that it was often used as a cover for “evil cults, secret societies and lawless and superstitious activities.”

Big direct-selling companies disputed those claims, saying regulators simply misunderstood their business model.

In 2006, after heavy lobbying from American companies, China lifted its ban. And since then, direct selling, with some modifications, has flourished in China, growing into an $8 billion industry that now markets products as diverse as health supplements, cosmetics, toothpaste and dishwashing liquid.

“Direct sellers see unlimited opportunities here,” says Kent Kedl, a Shanghai-based analyst at Technomics Asia, the market research firm. “They see the combination of entrepreneurial sellers and adventuresome consumers.”

Companies engaged in direct selling are succeeding in China by using many of the same techniques that worked elsewhere, analysts say. They often recruit young women and motivate them to sell aggressively, particularly to friends and family members. Companies also use multilevel marketing programs that reward workers for recruiting other agents.

Revenue in China for Mary Kay, which is based in Dallas, has doubled to $600 million in the last three years payday advance loan. “We’re going to grow another 20 percent this year,” despite the economic downturn, says Paul Mak, head of Mary Kay China, despite the global economic slowdown. “People haven’t stopped buying cosmetics.”

The company’s message of female empowerment and femininity seems to resonate in China, a country where young women have few opportunities to start their own businesses.

“The direct-selling industry has quite a low entrance threshold,” says Wang Yi, who teaches at the Beijing Business Management College.

Like other direct sellers, Mary Kay has expanded in China — one of the 35 countries where it operates, generating total revenue of $2.6 billion last year — by working hard to recruit new representatives.

The company operates with a kind of missionary zeal, analysts say, pushing sales agents to invite friends and family members to makeup classes and seminars that quickly evolve into small communities of women who follow the sales gospel of Mary Kay.

Many Mary Kay sales agents say that before joining the company they held low-paying jobs as secretaries, cashiers and rural schoolteachers. Many were also looking for a new focus of their lives. “Because my husband is a businessman, and he is busy, we talked less and less,” says Lu Laidi, a Mary Kay sales director. “I felt my life was boring. I stayed home and barely dressed up.”

While many Mary Kay sales representatives say they earn very little, those who follow the company’s sales and recruiting strategies can become wealthy.

One sales director, Jin Yan, said that after 12 years at Mary Kay, she earned nearly $400,000 last year.

She now drives a pink Cadillac, a reward from the company.

But not everyone succeeds. Shang Qun, a 28-year-old sales agent in eastern Jiangsu Province, said she was pressured to meet unrealistic sales goals and to deliver dozens of names of potential clients to the company during her first months of selling.

“Mary Kay has many direct-selling refugees,” she says. “They claim Mary Kay can make you big money, but their pockets are empty.”

Crayton Webb, a Mary Kay spokesman, defended the company. “Mary Kay is extremely careful in communicating to members of the independent sales force that their success is up to them,” he wrote in an e-mail message. “There are no guarantees and that they should invest in their business carefully.”

Many other agents interviewed in recent months agreed, saying Mary Kay had helped them earn a good living, and also transformed their lives.

Zhang Xiaoying, the 19-year-old woman at the September seminar, said that a year ago she was a cashier in the coastal boomtown of Shenzhen when a friend introduced her to Mary Kay.

Today, she is paid just $200 a month, not much more than she got as a cashier. But, she says, it’s a start.

“I love this company because they give us professional training,” she said.

Bao Beibei contributed research from Shanghai.

Direct Selling Flourishes in China

HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam — More than many countries, Vietnam has been buffeted by the ups and downs of globalization.

A relatively new player in the global economy, it benefited from a flood of Western capital and interest in the 1990s and early this decade, only to be devastated by the reverberations of the latest economic crisis in the United States, 7,500 miles away.

Vietnam’s strategy for competing in the global arena — and a relatively successful one until recently — had been to carve out niche markets where it could deliver, say, quality products like handicrafts or specialized clothing that China could not.

But all of Vietnam’s main export industries are heavily dependent on sales to the United States. In 2009, the United States was the biggest importer of Vietnamese goods, absorbing about a fifth of the country’s exports.

Furniture companies, to take one industry, have had a huge drop in orders after the rapid downward spiral in sales of new homes in the United States. “A lot of the smaller factories have had a very, very difficult time,” said Michael Gunther, a manager at Honai Furniture, a 900-employee company about 20 miles outside of Ho Chi Minh City that makes a range of items from bedroom dressers to parts for bows and arrows.

About 20 to 25 percent of Honai’s production goes to the United States while the rest is exported to other parts of the world, particularly Europe. Mr. Gunther said the company had not had to lay off anyone even as smaller competitors went out of business, a trend that has allowed Honai to at least sustain itself.

“We’ve had customers ask us to increase our capacity but we can’t because we’re at full capacity,” he said.

Vietnam’s economy grew 4.6 percent for the first nine months of 2009, compared with the same period in 2008, according to the World Bank, in part because of government stimulus measures. While a developed country like the United States would be happy with such growth, Vietnam in recent years had been able to sustain an average growth rate above 7 percent.

At the same time, the country has seen a strong retrenchment in exports. In the first 10 months of 2009, Vietnamese exports declined 13.8 percent compared with the period in 2008, the World Bank said.

Though that drop is less than declines in most other developing countries, it could make 2009 the first year with a decline in exports since the beginning of Vietnam’s economic reforms, the World Bank said.

The pullback is a significant growing pain for Vietnam, one of the world’s newer export economies. Compared with others in the region like Thailand and Malaysia, Vietnam is still an infant in its experiences with globalization.

For decades after the Vietnam War, the economy limped along, sustained largely by its agriculture. Until President Bill Clinton and the Senate lifted the United States trade embargo in 1994, Vietnam was a bit player in the export market. Even after that shift, it took years for the country’s manufacturing sector to be competitive, particularly given its location near more mature exporting countries like China.

In order to square off against China, many manufacturers try to rely on niche industries and specialties rather than competing solely on price or low labor costs payday loan.

Dai Viet Garment Ltd., based in Ho Chi Minh City, has been able to sustain its business because it specializes in making the thoub, a man’s tunic, for Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern markets.

Demand is pretty stable for the garments, which has allowed the company to keep its work force of 500 direct employees busy as well as 300 more through subcontractors.

Many factory owners say that labor costs make up about 20 to 30 percent of the cost of manufacturing, so cutting workers, overtime or wages does not help much in response to lower demand. In addition, the shipping and transportation networks are much more robust in China, which can put Vietnam at a disadvantage.

“What makes the difference is the labor cost and delivery time,” said Diep Thanh Kiet, chairman of Dai Viet Garment.

As Vietnam’s tourism market grows, particularly attracting new golf resorts and vacationers from other nearby countries in Southeast Asia and elsewhere, furniture manufacturers like Sadaco are turning to supply such new resorts.

Tran Quoc Manh, chairman of Sadaco, says he has also sought to diversify his customer base by finding clients in China and in growing areas of Vietnam, like Dalat City, where new villas are being built. But the local market cannot substitute for the huge potential of the global consumer.

“The local market is still very small compared to the U.S. market, and overall exports to the U.S. continue to grow, though not as much as pre-crisis projections would have had it,” said Frederick R. Burke, a managing partner in the Vietnam office of the law firm Baker & McKenzie, who advises exporters.

Accurate government statistics on job losses in Vietnam are hard to come by, and even business people here say they believe that the government is playing down the cutbacks.

The World Bank said there was abundant anecdotal evidence of increased hardship in the first half of the year.

“Job losses were widespread in industrial parks in late 2008 and early 2009. But few took the form of open layoffs,” Viet Tuan Dinh and Martin Rama wrote in a report in June for the World Bank. “Nonrenewals of contracts and incentives for voluntary departures were more common.”

Corporate enterprise is still guided by the hands of the officially socialist government of Vietnam, a country where the hammer-and-sickle flag flies alongside the red Vietnamese flag at many government office buildings and where socialist motivational banners are a common sight at factories.

The Vietnamese government tried several measures to force factories to keep their employment levels up during the economic downturn, and it adopted a sizable fiscal stimulus package as well.

But many economic experts are optimistic that a global recovery will help the country regain its growth track.

“The government is learning through experience,” said V. Bruce J. Tolentino, chief economist at the Asia Foundation, a nonprofit group based in San Francisco. “They are pragmatic, and that pragmatism is serving them well.”

Vietnam Is Refining Its Role on the Global Stage

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The Nasdaq rose on Wednesday after solid earnings from Micron Technology and Red Hat, but an unexpected drop in new home sales limited gains on the broader market.

Red Hat Inc (RHT.N) gained 4.8 percent to $31.30 following third-quarter results that beat expectations, and Micron Technology Inc (MU.N) climbed 5.6 percent to $9.94 after posting its first quarterly profit in nearly three years.

"Technology is really carrying the way," said Keith Springer, president of Capital Financial Advisory Services in Sacramento, California.

"The consensus is regardless of what the economy does, this group will be the beneficiary. They were the ones that leaned down the fastest when the market crumbled last year."

The Dow and S&P 500 were little changed as gains in resource shares were tempered by data that showed new home sales dropped 11.3 percent, sinking to a seven-month low in November.

A recovery in the housing market is considered crucial if the U.S. economy is to sustain its rebound from a severe recession. Home improvement chain Home Depot Inc (HD.N) shed 1.2 percent to $28.92 and was one of the Dow's worst drags.

The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) added 9.07 points, or 0.09 percent, to 10,474.00. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index (.SPX) put on 2.83 points, or 0 paydayloans.25 percent, to 1,120.85. The Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) gained 15.62 points, or 0.69 percent, to 2,268.29.

Volume was light on the last full trading day before the Christmas holiday. The New York Stock Exchange will close at 1:00 p.m. EST on Thursday and will be closed on Friday.

Energy stocks moved higher, as U.S. oil futures jumped 2.8 percent to $76.50 per barrel after data showed U.S. crude oil inventories fell more than expected last week as imports declined.

The PHLX Oil Service index (.OSX) shot up 1.8 percent, lifted by Schlumberger Ltd (SLB.N), which rose 2.4 percent to $65.50. Barclays Capital raised its rating on shares of the oilfield services company to "overweight" from "equal-weight."

The dollar lost 0.5 percent against a basket of major currencies (.DXY), lifting exporters like Caterpillar Inc (CAT.N), which was up 1 percent at $58.41, and helped limit declines in the Dow and the S&P 500.

Rounding out the day's data, the final December reading on consumer sentiment from the Reuters/University of Michigan surveys and November personal spending both came in weaker than expected.

(Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

Dow, S&P dampened by home sales; techs lift Nasdaq

BOSTON (AP) — The State Street Corporation, the financial services provider, said Tuesday that it would buy the securities services business of Italian banking group Intesa Sanpaolo for about $1.87 billion in cash.

State Street said the acquisition would broaden its presence overseas, as the Intesa unit has offices in Italy and Luxembourg. State Street anticipates financing the transaction with available capital.

The deal includes the global custody, depository banking, correspondent banking and fund administration components of the securities services operations. About 555 employees will join State Street when the deal is closed.

The transaction may also include about $16 billion in cash deposits if levels stay consistent with those as of June 30.

Additionally, State Street expects to support the acquired Intesa balance sheet with approximately $800 million of additional capital at the closing

As part of the acquisition, State Street will enter into a long-term investment servicing arrangement with Intesa to service all of its investment management affiliates, including Italy’s biggest fund manager, Eurizon Capital no credit check payday loan.

State Street anticipates about $120 million in acquisition-related costs over a five-year period, with most costs taking place in the first three years.

The Boston company expects to save about $90 million over five years and sees the deal modestly adding to its fiscal 2010 earnings.

The acquisition is expected to close in the second quarter.

State Street to Buy Securities Business of Italian Bank

LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) — HSBC Holdings PLC’s long-awaited Shanghai stock listing will seek to raise $8 billion, a report said Sunday, well above previous forecasts for the banking giant’s mainland Chinese debut.

The British newspaper Observer reported that HSBC’s Shanghai initial public offering will total 5 billion pounds ($8.1 billion). Previous reports had expected the IPO, which has yet to receive approval from Chinese officials, to be worth $5 billion. See previous report on HSBC’s Shanghai IPO plans.

The report also said HSBC will become “the first international company” to list on the Shanghai exchange, beating other companies in the race for a Shanghai share presence. Lawyers in London say that the China Securities Regulatory Commission is expected to change its laws in January to allow foreign and non-mainland companies to list in Shanghai, the Observer report said payday loan lenders.

HSBC is already well capitalized and doesn’t need the money from the IPO, but rather, it is keen to raise its profile with Chinese retail investors as it expands its branch network and looks at buying stakes in rival Chinese banks, the report said.

The unconfirmed report was the latest after months of news accounts tipping moves by large foreign companies seeking to list in Shanghai.

HSBC seeks $8 billion in Shanghai listing: report

Filed at 5:37 a.m. ET

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq has initialed a deal with a consortium led by European giant Royal Dutch Shell PLC and Malaysia’s state-run Petronas to develop one of Iraq’s most prized oil fields.

Iraqi officials initialed the deal Sunday during a signing ceremony at Iraq’s Oil Ministry in Baghdad. The contract still must be approved by Iraq’s Cabinet.

The two companies won the right earlier this month to develop the 12 portable infrared heaters.5 billion barrel southern Majnoon field.

Shell-Petronas plan to raise production at Majnoon from the current 45,900 barrels per day to 1.8 million barrels per day over 10 years.

Iraq Initials Deal on Prized Oil Field

A week after Goldman Sachs moved to quell the outcry over its resurgent profits and pay, Morgan Stanley said its top executive would forgo his bonus this year.

The move, announced in a memo to employees, was aimed at placating critics of Wall Street, where bonuses have rebounded sharply since the financial crisis while pay and employment elsewhere in the economy remain depressed.

Goldman Sachs said last week that its 30 most senior executives would forgo cash bonuses this year. Instead, the 30 executives will be paid in the form of long-term stock. But Morgan Stanley went one better on Friday by announcing that its chief executive, John J. Mack, would receive no year-end bonus at all.

Mr. Mack is stepping down as chief executive at the end of this month to assume the elder statesman role of chairman of the venerable Wall Street firm, and outsiders saw his decision as a gesture at setting a new tone for the firm in the post-bailout era. The firm, however, said his decision did not mean other top executives at the bank would forgo their bonuses — those will not be decided until next month.

It is the third consecutive year that Mr. Mack has received no bonus. He will, however, still be paid an annual salary of $800,000, and he has been rewarded lavishly since he returned to lead Morgan Stanley in 2005. That year, he received a bonus of $25 million and, in 2006, a further bonus of $40 million, both in three-year restricted stock. That stock has already vested but the bank says Mr. Mack has not sold any of it.

Twelve months after the government saved the financial system with billions of taxpayer dollars, banks are preparing to pay annual bonuses that could rival the eye-popping paydays of the boom years. Morgan Stanley, its executives admit, had a near-death experience from which it is still recovering, although it paid back its $10 billion in bailout money in June quick guaranteed personal loans.

In the memo to employees, Mr. Mack said he had made the decision “given this unprecedented environment and the extraordinary financial support governments provided to our industry.”

“At Morgan Stanley, we recognize the environment in which we are operating and the economic challenges facing so many countries,” he said.

But as he moves into the chairman’s role, Mr. Mack is also leaving a complicated legacy.

The bank he has spent a career building into a Wall Street powerhouse returned to profitability only in the third quarter, and is likely to post a loss for the year. That would be the first annual loss in Morgan Stanley’s history, although the bank says that its revenue is back to 2007 levels and that its profits are being dragged down by losses it is forced to take on its debt valuation as the company’s health improves.

Mr. Mack is credited internally with saving the firm during the crisis. But it has emerged this year as a more conservative operation, and has lagged its perennial rival Goldman Sachs, which may post a record year in 2009.

Claudia Allen, a corporate governance lawyer at Neal, Gerber & Eisenberg in Chicago, said banks like Morgan Stanley were aware of the populist furor.

“He was sending a message, but you have to remember that Morgan Stanley was in the red this year. They are not Goldman Sachs.”

Unlike Most on Wall St., Morgan Stanley’s Chief Will Forgo His 2009 Bonus

BERLIN — European regulators dropped their antitrust case against Microsoft on Wednesday after the company agreed to offer customers a choice of rival Web browsers. The settlement ends what could have been a second costly legal battle for the American software giant.

The agreement, announced in Brussels by the European competition commissioner, Neelie Kroes, calls for Microsoft to give Windows users a choice of up to 12 other browsers from competing companies, including Google and Apple.

Users of Microsoft’s ubiquitous Windows operating system in Europe who have chosen its Internet Explorer as their default browser will receive as an update an option to switch to a rival.

“Millions of European consumers will benefit from this decision by having a free choice about which web browser they use,” Ms. Kroes said in a statement.

The settlement also underlines, according to legal experts, the increasingly conciliatory posture being taken by U.S. technology companies to avoid European sanctions.

“These companies recognized that the European Commission is playing a significant role in global antitrust law and must be taken seriously,” said Susanne Zuehlke, an antitrust lawyer in Brussels at Latham & Watkins, a U.S. law firm. “Of course, the huge fines recently have also focused everyone’s attention.”

For Microsoft, the settlement is a stark contrast to its acrimonious first legal conflict with European officials. That case ended in October 2007 when Microsoft dropped its appeal of a commission judgment that it had abused the dominance of Windows to aid its media player and server businesses.

Microsoft had fought the case for nearly a decade, and ended up paying fines totaling more than €1 bad credit auto loans.68 billion, or $2.44 billion.

Two months after Microsoft gave up, Opera, a small Norwegian browser maker, filed its complaint over browsers, instigating the second case.

Google, which makes the Chrome browser, and Mozilla, makers of Firefox, signed on as opponents in the case. The commission in January said Microsoft’s bundling of Internet Explorer was harming competition. In July, Microsoft proposed the browser distribution plan which, after adjustment to appease rivals, led to the settlement proposal.

Rival browser makers said the agreement represented a huge opportunity for their own Internet-surfing software, which they said would also give Europeans more choice and a better ability to compare browsers.

“I think this settlement has the potential to change the status quo,” Sundar Pichai, the head of Google’s Chrome browser team and Chrome Web-based operating system, said before it was announced. “Most consumers in the past have chosen Internet Explorer because it came on their computers. Now the decision will be made on the merits.”

Microsoft’s Windows operating system runs more than 90 percent of all computers in the world. Under terms of the European settlement, Microsoft will send ballot screens via automatic software updates to new and current users of Windows systems in Europe who have set Internet Explorer as their main browser.

E.U. Drops Microsoft Antitrust Case Over Browsers

President Obama didn’t exactly look thrilled as he stared at the Polycom speakerphone in front of him. “Well, I appreciate you guys calling in,” he began the meeting at the White House with Wall Street’s top brass on Monday.

He was, of course, referring to the three conspicuously absent attendees who were being piped in by telephone: Lloyd C. Blankfein, the chief executive of Goldman Sachs; John J. Mack, chairman of Morgan Stanley; and Richard D. Parsons, chairman of Citigroup.

Their excuse? “Inclement weather,” according to the White House. More precisely, fog delayed flights into Reagan National Airport. (In the “no good deed goes unpunished” category, the absent bankers were at least self-aware enough to try to fly commercial.)

That awkward moment on speakerphone in the White House, for better or worse, spoke volumes about how the balance of power between Wall Street and Washington has shifted again, back in Wall Street’s favor.

Now that Citigroup has given back its bailout money — and Wells Fargo announced late on Monday that it would, too — whatever leverage Washington had over the financial services industry seems to be quickly eroding.

Executive compensation, leverage limits and lending standards were all issues that Washington said it planned to change — and when the taxpayers were the shareholders of these firms, it probably could have done so. But now the White House has been left in the position of extending invitations, rather than exercising its clout. And in the figurative and literal sense, it is getting stood up.

Those who attended the meeting — Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan flew down on a private jet and didn’t take any heat for it — seemed to talk a good game, but even President Obama acknowledged they might have been just toying with him.

“The problem is there’s a big gap between what I’m hearing here in the White House and the activities of lobbyists on behalf of these institutions or associations of which they’re a member up on Capitol Hill,” he said after the discussion.

Are we making too much of this meeting and its grounded attendees?

The meeting was always just going to be political theater. Wall Street bankers were supposed to play their part on the public stage in Washington, and submit to a scolding from the president about bonuses and the need to start lending more to help get the economy moving.

But inevitably public perception will issue its harsh ruling, and it goes something like this: If the meeting were really that important to Mr. Blankfein, Mr. Mack and Mr. Parsons, they would have found a way to get there.

They would have left the night before, or they would have flown out at the crack of dawn, or better yet, taken Amtrak (I called customer service, and the Acela was running only a couple of minutes late).

In fairness, there is little question that they wanted to be there and seemed genuinely disappointed they couldn’t make it no fax payday advance. (You could hear it in Mr. Mack and Mr. Blankfein’s voice when they got on the call. “Mr. President, we’re upset we’re not able to be there, but we’re on line with you now,” Mr. Mack said. “It’s certainly not for a lack of effort,” Mr. Blankfein quickly followed up.)

But this missed meeting clearly didn’t help their case.

After all, they sure hoofed it down there last year, when Henry M. Paulson Jr. ordered them to meet him in Washington with less than 24 hours of notice. Most of them got there early, and went home with $10 billion to $25 billion of taxpayer money.

Upon hearing the news Monday morning of the airplane delays, Mark Haines, an anchor at CNBC, went on the air and, in a Howard Beale moment, said what many Americans were probably thinking: “These guys are such little girls! Give me a break. What a bunch of wimps! Thanks for all that taxpayer money … and, ah, gee, there are delays at the airport!”

But extra effort may have been a lot to ask given the blasting headwinds they were flying into down in Washington.

President Obama’s “60 Minutes” interview Sunday night eviscerating Wall Street laid down the not-so-welcome mat. “I did not run for office to be helping out a bunch of fat-cat bankers,” he said.

Inside the Obama administration, there were bruised feelings about the need for a conference call to have a meeting.

“It was pretty nervy,” one staff member told me.

That’s not to say that Mr. Blankfein, Mr. Mack and Mr. Parsons have not been trying to be constructive.

Mr. Mack has been particularly outspoken about the need for serious financial reform on Wall Street. Mr. Parsons, too, has been trying to act as a liaison with Washington and has not pushed back on legislation.

And Mr. Blankfein, who is under perhaps the hottest spotlight, has been saying many of the right things, though he probably can’t say enough of them at the moment.

But as President Obama has said, it is not what those leaders say to him that really matters.

“The way I see it, having recovered with the help of the American government and the American taxpayers, our banks now have a greater obligation to the goal of a wider recovery, a more stable system, and more broadly shared prosperity,” Mr. Obama said.

There’s an expression that many bankers already know, and might want to keep in mind if they are summoned to Washington again. The saying is often trotted out on Wall Street when people need to be reminded of the importance of getting on a plane and seeing a client: “You can’t fax a handshake.”

The latest news on mergers and acquisitions can be found at nytimes.com/dealbook.

DealBook Column: Putting Obama on Hold, in a Hint of Who’s Boss

NEW YORK (Reuters) – AOL is in talks to sell its ICQ instant-messaging service to Russian investment firm Digital Sky Technologies, The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday, citing people familiar with the matter.

According to the report, the discussions are still in the early phase and AOL has reached out to other parties. The value of the sale could be between $200 million and $300 million, the Journal said online payday loans.

A spokeswoman for AOL declined to comment on the story. A spokeswoman for Digital Sky could not be immediately reached for comment.

(Reporting by Michael Erman, editing by Martin Golan)

AOL in talks with Russian investment firm on ICQ

KUWAIT (Reuters) – Kuwait's sale of its stake in Citigroup (C.N) earlier this month was not due to a dispute with the U.S. bank, the Gulf Arab state's finance minister said in published remarks on Sunday.

Mustapha al-Shamali told al-Rai newspaper that there is no dispute between the country's sovereign wealth fund the Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA) and Citigroup.

"The exit of KIA from its stake in Citigroup for $4.1 billion was not due to any dispute between the two parties but it was an opportunistic investment," Shamali was quoted as saying direct payday loans.

The minister's comment comes days after the Financial Times said that the KIA has held internal discussions about scaling back its banking operations with Citigroup.

Last week, KIA said it had sold its stake in Citigroup, making a $1.1 billion profit.

(Reporting by Rania El Gamal; Editing by Thomas Atkins)

Kuwait finance minister says no dispute with Citi: report