Home movie DVD battle won, hard sell begins

(Reuters) - Consumers will be the winners, through better quality home movies and lower prices, when Toshiba Corp finally calls time on its DVD technology, ending a long-running battle to set the format for next-generation discs.

Viewers seeking sharper movies on high-definition DVDs will no longer have to choose between rival incompatible formats. A single format should help accelerate the shift to the new technology in the $24 billion home DVD market.

But, while they will get better audio quality and higher resolution pictures -- and they will likely wait for DVD player prices to halve -- consumers will probably have to upgrade their television sets to make the most of them.

Sony Corp's Blu-ray technology is close to winning the format war for home movie DVDs after a source at Toshiba said it was planning to exit its HD DVD business after Hollywood studios and big retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc backed Blu-ray.

"This has been a long overdue end to the format war that has frustrated and confused consumers, and will allow vendors to focus resources on the Blu-ray technology," said Claudio Checchia, an analyst with research firm IDC.

"I would expect a more aggressive push towards Blu-ray in the second half, resulting in more movie content, more stand-alone DVD players, and prices for these players falling to attractive levels by Christmas."

Checchia said the cheapest Blu-ray player on the market was Sony's PlayStation 3 video game console, costing about $400.

 

Read more at Reuters

Westland/Hallmark Recalls Record Amount of U.S. Beef

(Bloomberg) -- Westland/Hallmark Meat Co., the supplier of ground beef to U.S. school lunch programs, recalled a record 143.4 million pounds of meat after the government said it was unfit for humans.

The company, based in Chino, California, withdrew all raw and frozen products made since Feb. 1, 2006, because some of the cattle weren't fully inspected, the Department of Agriculture said in a statement yesterday. A total of 37 million pounds went to nutrition programs, including schools, since October 2006.

The order relates to so-called downer cattle discovered between the normal USDA inspection before slaughter and the killing of the animals, the department said. Downer cattle, those unable to walk, are banned from the food chain as a precaution against Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, also known as mad-cow disease, the USDA said.

The risk of consumers contracting BSE from the meat is ``negligible,'' the USDA said in a separate statement. ``The prevalence of the disease in the United States is extremely low,'' with two animals testing positive for the disease out of 759,000 tested nationwide since June 2004, the department said.

A video taken at the plant released by the Humane Society of the U.S. shows workers kicking cows and using electric prods and forklifts to make them move. Two Westland/Hallmark former employees were charged with animal cruelty by the San Bernardino District Attorney's office Feb. 15.

Operations Ceased

The company ceased operations last month after the video was revealed. In a statement posted on the company's Web site Feb. 3, Westland/Hallmark president Steve Mendell said the company was cooperating fully with the USDA. Two messages left yesterday with Westland/Hallmark seeking comment weren't immediately returned. Today is a U.S. public holiday.

The U.S. consumed 28 billion pounds of beef in 2006 and the U.S. beef industry was worth $71 billion that year on a retail basis, according to the USDA. Beef exports totaled 1.15 billion pounds worth $1.63 billion.

The recall shouldn't create a supply problem, Kim Essex, vice president of communications at the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, said in a Bloomberg Television interview from Denver today. ``I am very confident in the safety of the beef supply,'' she said.

The recalled meat is considered a low risk to food supply because almost all the meat has either been consumed or is being held from distribution, Richard Raymond, USDA under secretary for food safety, said in a teleconference call yesterday.

Hamburger Patties

The ground beef bought for schools was processed into products such as hamburger patties, chili meat and taco meat, Bill Sessions from the USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service, said on the call, according to a transcript.

The recall is categorized as a Class II, meaning ``there is a remote probability of adverse health consequences from the use of the product,'' according to Raymond.

The recall is more than four times the size of the previous record, a 35 million-pound removal of Thorn Apple Valley Inc. ready-to-eat meats potentially contaminated with listeria in January 1999, Raymond said.

``All of the larger recalls done in the past were all Class I,'' Raymond said. ``In this one we feel there is a very, very remote possibility of anyone suffering health consequences.''

About 150 U.S. school districts are no longer using beef from Hallmark Meat Packing Co., the Associated Press reported, without saying where it got the information.

Kidney Exports

Schools in Washington state and California said they wouldn't serve students beef for now, Agence France-Presse reported, citing unidentified local officials.

Hamburger patties and meatballs in schools in South Florida are being destroyed as part of the recall, the South Florida Sun- Sentinel newspaper reported, without saying where it got the information.

Westland/Hallmark's exports last year consisted of kidneys and livers to Ivory Coast and livers to Angola, the USDA said. There have been no exports to Japan or South Korea since at least 2003, the department said.

Japan and South Korea banned U.S. beef imports after the first U.S. case of mad-cow disease was found in 2003. Japan, once the largest U.S. beef export market, now only imports meat from animals aged 20 months or younger, which have a lower risk.

The 27-nation European Union only imports hormone-free beef from the U.S., which has to be produced separately from other livestock, Michael Mann, a spokesman for agriculture and rural development at the European Commission, said by telephone today. The EU exported 87 tons of beef to the U.S. in 2006.

 

Read more at Bloomberg

Stocks Rise in Europe, Latin America; Credit Suisse, Vale Climb

(Bloomberg) -- European stocks rose, led by banks and metal producers, on optimism this year's 12 percent drop in the region's benchmark index was too steep given the outlook for sales. Shares in Latin America gained, while Asian equities fell.

Credit Suisse Group rose the most in three weeks in Zurich after Qatar said it's buying shares in the second-biggest Swiss bank, while Barclays Plc and Lloyds TSB Group Plc climbed in London as traders speculated on higher dividends. BHP Billiton Ltd. followed metals prices higher in Europe, while Cia. Vale do Rio Doce rallied in Sao Paulo.

The Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index added 1.7 percent as of 3:18 p.m. in London, and the MSCI World Index increased 0.4 percent, as gains from Europe and Latin America more than offset declines in Australian bank shares and Japanese insurers. Futures on the Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 0.8 percent. The U.S. market is closed today for the Presidents' Day holiday.

Qatar's purchase ``gives the market a boost,'' said Salah Seddik, who helps oversee $5.9 billion at Richelieu Finance in Paris. ``There's been some good news in the financial industry. The strong declines we've seen have left some buying opportunities.''

Concern the subprime mortgage slump will lead to more losses sent Europe's Stoxx Banks Index down 17 percent this year. The gauge was valued at 7.5 times profit in the week ended Feb. 8, the lowest since at least 1998, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

The MSCI Latin America Index added 2.1 percent. Brazil's Bovespa index jumped the most in a week, advancing 2 percent, while Chile's Ipsa stock index rose 0.9 percent.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index lost 0.6 percent today, reversing an earlier gain of 0.8 percent.

European Markets

National benchmarks advanced in all 18 western European markets except Greece. France's CAC 40 rose 1.5 percent, while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 climbed 2 percent. Germany's DAX increased 1.7 percent.

The Stoxx 50 jumped 1.6 percent, as did the Euro Stoxx 50, a measure for the euro region. All of the 18 industry groups in the Stoxx 600 gained, with five stocks rising for each one that fell.

Credit Suisse rose 3.1 percent to 56.7 francs. Qatar is accumulating shares in Credit Suisse and plans to spend as much as $15 billion on European and U.S. bank stocks over the next year, the Gulf state's prime minister said in an interview.

``We have a relation with Credit Suisse and we bought some of the stock from the market, actually, but I cannot say what percentage because still we are in the process,'' Sheikh Hamad bin Jasim bin Jaber al-Thani, who is also chief executive officer of the Qatar Investment Authority, said in an interview late yesterday in Doha.

Barclays, Lloyds TSB

Barclays, the U.K.'s third-biggest bank, jumped 6.8 percent to 456.5 pence. Lloyds TSB, the U.K.'s No. 1 provider of unsecured loans, increased 6.4 percent to 421 pence.

Barclays and Lloyds, which are seeking to quell concern about financial institutions, are expected to report ``robust'' results, the newspaper said. Barclays will lift its dividend by 10 percent on Feb. 19, the Times reported, without saying where it got the information.

Barclays spokesman Robin Tozer and a Lloyds TSB spokesman Leigh Calder declined to comment on the report.

HBOS Plc, the U.K.'s biggest mortgage lender, advanced 4.1 percent to 633.5 pence. Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, the U.K.'s second-largest bank, added 2.9 percent to 360.75 pence.

UBS AG fell 1.2 percent to 35.58 francs after a Bear Stearns Cos. analyst downgraded the stock, forecasting more writedowns on debt holdings.

New disclosure of holdings affected by the subprime debacle ``revealed the full and frightening extent of UBS's potential problems,'' Christopher Wheeler wrote, cutting his stock recommendation to ``peer perform'' from ``outperform.''

Steel Price Accord

Vale do Rio Doce surged the most in three weeks, climbing 5.7 percent to 49.15 reais.

Asia's three largest steelmakers agreed to pay Rio de Janeiro- based Vale, the world's biggest iron-ore producer, 65 percent more than last year for the material. Vale said the price increase shows the market is going through ``very tight conditions.''

ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steelmaker, gained 1.4 percent to 48.22 euros. Nippon Steel Corp., the second-biggest, rose 3.2 percent to 575 yen, its highest close since Feb. 7.

``It's good that the price increases are being decided early,'' Alan Coats, an analyst at HSBC Holdings Plc in London, said today in a telephone interview. ``It means they can be passed on.''

BHP Billiton

BHP Billiton, the world's largest mining company, gained 3.9 percent to 1,612 pence. Vedanta Resources Plc, India's biggest copper producer, climbed 3.9 percent to 2,153 pence.

Copper advanced to the highest in almost four months in London after China, the world's largest user, said imports grew 6.6 percent in January from the previous month. The metal for delivery in three months rose 2.3 percent to $7,910 a metric ton, the highest intraday price since Oct. 29. Zinc and lead also climbed.

Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd., Australia's third-largest bank, dropped 6.1 percent to A$22.46, the lowest since September 2005, after its chief executive said a ``bloodbath'' in debt markets will wipe out earnings growth.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia, the country's top mortgage lender, lost 5.1 percent to A$44.

Aioi Insurance Co., Japan's fourth-largest nonlife insurer, tumbled 6.8 percent to 439 yen, after a newspaper said it will have $740 million of subprime-related losses.

 

Read more at Bloomberg