The Australion dollar fell to multi-week lows against

The Australian dollar fell to multi-week lows against major currencies on Friday as investors fled riskier trades and higher-yielding currencies, unwinding leveraged positions funded in U.S. dollars and yen. Investors were unnerved by persistent worries about the fiscal health of Greece and other smaller euro zone countries. That hurt the euro EUR=, dragged down Asian stocks and the overall downbeat mood also weighed on the Aussie.
The Aussie hovered around $0.8905 AUD=D4 after touching a one-month low of $0.8884. It is down a cent for the week and well off last week's high of $0.9263.
The Aussie also hit a six-week low against the yen at 79.67 yen AUDJPY=R, with investors seeking refuge in the safe-haven yen as stocks fell globally. The Aussie lost nearly 4.0 percent in January.
But John Kyriakopoulos, a currency strategist at National Australia Bank, said risk aversion among investors may not last.
"Through most of the week, U.S. economic data has been disappointing. We need to see better news on the U.S. economy, a circuit breaker to risk aversion," Kyriakopoulos said.
The first relief could come as early as late Friday when the United States releases fourth-quarter gross domestic product data at 1330GMT.
The median forecast is for growth to quicken to an annual rate of 4.6 percent, from 2.2 percent in the third quarter, mainly due to inventory rebuilding.
But more importantly, Kyriakopoulos said he sees a potential European Union bailout of Greece, which is hurdled by heavy public debt, and Chinese policy tightening, as good news for risk appetite.
Markets will also focus next week on the Reserve Bank of Australia's (RBA) policy decision on Tuesday. A 25-basis-point rate hike to 4 percent is widely expected CSRBA=CSAU as the RBA reins in stimulus on the back of rising inflation, a revival in employment and robust consumption. [ID:nSGE60S035]
The re-appointment of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke for a second term earlier on Friday by the U.S. Senate may also be good news for risk appetite at the margin, but with U.S. stocks sinking, investors are set to remain cautious.
Aussie government bonds were up as stocks fell. Three-year bond futures YTTc1 up 0.140 points at 95.130, while the ten-year contract gained 0.090 points at 94.550.

Investors were unnerved by persistent worries about the fiscal health of Greece and other smaller euro zone countries. That hurt the euro EUR=, dragged down Asian stocks and the overall downbeat mood also weighed on the Aussie.

The Aussie hovered around $0.8905 AUD=D4 after touching a one-month low of $0.8884. It is down a cent for the week and well off last week's high of $0.9263.

The Aussie also hit a six-week low against the yen at 79.67 yen AUDJPY=R, with investors seeking refuge in the safe-haven yen as stocks fell globally. The Aussie lost nearly 4.0 percent in January.

But John Kyriakopoulos, a currency strategist at National Australia Bank, said risk aversion among investors may not last.

"Through most of the week, U.S. economic data has been disappointing. We need to see better news on the U.S. economy, a circuit breaker to risk aversion," Kyriakopoulos said.

The first relief could come as early as late Friday when the United States releases fourth-quarter gross domestic product data at 1330GMT.

The median forecast is for growth to quicken to an annual rate of 4.6 percent, from 2.2 percent in the third quarter, mainly due to inventory rebuilding.

But more importantly, Kyriakopoulos said he sees a potential European Union bailout of Greece, which is hurdled by heavy public debt, and Chinese policy tightening, as good news for risk appetite.

Markets will also focus next week on the Reserve Bank of Australia's (RBA) policy decision on Tuesday. A 25-basis-point rate hike to 4 percent is widely expected CSRBA=CSAU as the RBA reins in stimulus on the back of rising inflation, a revival in employment and robust consumption. [ID:nSGE60S035]

The re-appointment of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke for a second term earlier on Friday by the U.S. Senate may also be good news for risk appetite at the margin, but with U.S. stocks sinking, investors are set to remain cautious.

Aussie government bonds were up as stocks fell. Three-year bond futures YTTc1 up 0.140 points at 95.130, while the ten-year contract gained 0.090 points at 94.550.

The Red Cross mobilized fundraising efforts via social networking site Twitter

Donations via text message raised $5 million for the American Red Cross's Haiti relief efforts as of 5 p.m. Thursday.
Soon after a 7.0-magnitude quake struck near capital city Port-au-Prince late Tuesday, Donations via text message raised $5 million for the American Red Cross's Haiti relief efforts . Just before midnight, @RedCross tweeted: "You can text "HAITI" to 90999 to donate $10 to Red Cross relief efforts in #haiti."And so far a staggering 500,000 customers have done just that, across all wireless networks including AT&T (T, Fortune 500), Verizon (VZ, Fortune 500), Sprint (S, Fortune 500) and T-Mobile.
"These are donors who are typically the hardest to reach: young people," said Verizon Wireless spokesman Jeffrey Nelson. "They're reacting to something that affects them and realizing theiMobile giving isn't new, but it's been in the spotlight since the Haiti earthquake hit. In fact, the $5 million that's been raised so far by the Red Cross far exceeds the nearly $4 million that was donated to all charities by mobile texts in all of 2009, said a spokeswoman for the organization.
Organizations including the ASPCA, Feed the Children and World Land Trust all have 5-digit numbers to which subscribers can text donations at any time.r few dollars can make a difference. Texting has opened up a whole new world for philanthropy."Nelson said Verizon Wireless (VZ, Fortune 500) has a long-standing policy that it does not charge subscribers for texts to make charitable donations, and added that 100% of the donated funds are passed on to the Red Cross. T-Mobile also said its subscribers can text Haiti donations for free.
News reports earlier Thursday said AT&T (T, Fortune 500) was charging subscribers for their texts. But a spokesman said Thursday afternoon that the company had updated its systems in the morning to make texts sent to Haiti relief efforts free of charge, and that the change would cover those who donated yesterday.
Sprint said it will continue to treat donation texts "like any other text message for now."

President Obama, looking to recoup billions in expected losses from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, will announce a plan

President Obama, looking to recoup billions in expected losses from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, will announce a plan Thursday to impose fees on the country's biggest financial institutions, a senior administration official told CNN.
The move comes amid public outrage over a new round of big Wall Street bonuses.
The fee on financial institutions would raise up to $120 billion to ensure that taxpayers who bailed out banks are paid back, the official said Tuesday. The figure is at the upper end of a conservative estimate of losses associated with the program and Treasury officials expect the actual number will be much lower.
The law that created the $700 billion program empowered the president to ask Congress to When the TARP bill was hastily debated, the provision was key to winning enough support from wary lawmakers to push the bill through Congress.
Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, would not discuss on Monday how a possible bank fee would fit into Obama's fiscal 2011 budget, which is set to be released in February. "When it comes back from Kinko's, we'll be able to talk about it," he said.
But Gibbs said it is the president's "goal" to ensure the "money that taxpayers put up will be paid back in full."
While most of the big banks have started paying back their TARP investments, the government still has a lot of money on the line and is likely to for years to come. Last month, the Treasury estimated that the net cost of TARP to taxpayers would be $41.4 billion.
For example, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said last month that the bailouts of the automakers and insurer American International Group would not be paid back in full.
"There is a significant likelihood that we will not be repaid for the full value of our investments in AIG, GM and Chrysler," Geithner told an oversight panel.
Yet, the financial industry fee under discussion could affect the entire financial industry, a prospect the banking industry opposes. With few details available about any proposed fee, it's unclear whether banks would be required to pay for losses incurred by GM and Chrysler.
"Imposing new taxes on top of the increased regulatory costs will weaken the industry, just when the industry is helping lead the economic recovery," said Scott Talbott, chief lobbyist for the Financial Services Roundtable, a bank lobbying group.
The federal bailout program has always been a controversial topic, but news of executive bonuses now being awarded for banks' stellar performance in 2009 is throwing new fuel on populist anger.
A spokesman for the White House's budget office would not confirm or deny reports about a possible fee on banks.
"There are -- and will be -- a lot of rumors about what is in our budget -- most of them wrong," said budget office spokesman Kenneth Baer. "We are not going to get into the game of ruling in and ruling out rumors about what is in our budget."recoup money if bailouts were not paid back in full.
TARP dictates that the Office of Management and Budget consider such action five years after TARP went into effect in October 2008 to prevent the federal bailout from adding to the deficit.

U.S. stocks edge higher in late rally

The Dow Jones Industrial Average /quotes/comstock/10w!i:dji/delayed (INDU 10,618, +11.33, +0.11%) closed up 11.33 points, or 0.1%, at 10,618.19. It ended the week up 1.8%.
Coca-Cola /quotes/comstock/13*!ko/quotes/nls/ko (KO 55.15, -1.04, -1.85%) was the measure's worst performer, down 2.4% after J.P. Morgan Chase downgraded the stock to "neutral" from "overweight," noting the next six months will be "difficult" for stocks it covers in the beverages and household-products sectors.
The warning weighed on the entire consumer-staples sector. Colgate-Palmolive /quotes/comstock/13*!cl/quotes/nls/cl (CL 81.51, -1.49, -1.80%) and Alberto-Culver /quotes/comstock/13*!acv/quotes/nls/acv (ACV 29.14, -0.55, -1.85%) , which aren't Dow components, also were downgraded. Colgate fell 1.8%, while Alberto-Culver shed 1.9%.
The Standard & Poor's 500 Index /quotes/comstock/21z!i1:in\x (SPX 1,145, +3.29, +0.29%) rose 3.29 points, or 0.3%, to 1,145. For the week, the S&P rose 2.7%.
The technology-focused Nasdaq Composite Index /quotes/comstock/10y!i:comp (COMP 2,317, +17.12, +0.74%) gained 17.12 points, or 0.7%, to 2,317. It rose 2.6% on the week. Investors largely took in stride the Labor Department's Friday report that U.S. nonfarm payrolls fell by a larger-than-expected 85,000 last month. The government also revised earlier data upward, showing that jobs increased by 4,000 in November, the first gain in almost two years. The unemployment rate remained at 10%, slightly better than the 10.1% rate that was expected. Read more about the jobs report.
Eric Marshall, director of research at the Hodges Funds, noted that expectations heading into Friday morning's jobs report were quite disparate, with some economists hoping for small gains and others warning of significant losses.
"The fact that opinions were so spread out all over the place made the market really respond not too aggressively in one direction or the other," he said.
Through most of the recent economic slowdown, the stock market has tended to shrug off such weak jobs news. Since the beginning of 2008, the S&P 500 has averaged a 0.3% gain on days when the Labor Department's jobs report fell shy of expectations, while the index has fallen 0.1% on days when it beat expectations, according to data from Schaeffer's Investment Research in Cincinnati.
Todd Salamone, head of trading at Schaeffer's, attributed that trend in part to the market's tendency to factor in "whisper numbers" that are more accurate than Wall Street's published consensus ahead of big announcements. Under the current circumstances, he said it also may help that many traders are worried about a possible Federal Reserve interest-rate increase sometime this year.
"With so much of that sentiment out there, some people may look at a jobs report like today's and feel a little more comfortable that the Fed is going to hold steady," said Salamone.
A separate report showed U.S. wholesale inventories rose 1.5% when Wall Street expected a 0.3% decline. That increase was the largest since a 1.5% climb in October 2004.
The data come ahead of the unofficial start of the fourth-quarter earnings-reporting season Monday, when Alcoa Inc. /quotes/comstock/13*!aa/quotes/nls/aa (AA 17.02, +0.41, +2.47%) is set to release its results.
"We're expecting continued strength for earnings in the short term, but for sustainable growth, I don't know how we can have that without employment improving," said Patrick Galley, chief investment officer at RiverNorth Capital Management.
Meanwhile, the dollar fell against both the euro and the yen. The U.S. dollar index /quotes/comstock/11j!i:dxy0 (DXY 76.99, -0.19, -0.25%) -- which represents the greenback against a basket of six other currencies -- slid 0.6%.
Treasury prices inched up, with the 10-year note gaining 1/32 to yield 3.824%. Crude-oil futures rebounded near $83 a barrel, while gold futures edged up

Dollar drops and boosts euro

The dollar has fallen yet again and with the newly released data on the economy’s strength, doubt has been raised over whether or not the Federal Reserve will be able to bring the interest rates back up later in the year. Of course, in Germany, the Euro got a nice boost thanks to producer prices hitting a three week high. Boris Scholossberg, who is the senior currency strategist at DailyFX.com, believes that the inflationary pressures in Europe are helping to keep the Euro up.
He went to also note that a weak 0.2 percent rise in American producer prices has also caused concern. The United States consumer market is currently sitting the lowest ever since 1980, the last time the country was in a recession. “This is really bothering the market, because last week people thought Fed easing was over and the economy had stabilized, but the numbers lately are causing doubt,” Schlossberg said.
While the interest rates in the United States seem to be helping the flagging American economy, the situation is more complicated than it seems. This is due in part to core producer prices rising more than 0.4 %. These prices do not include food and energy figures. “Nothing here to give the Fed a peaceful night’s sleep, even allowing for the better-than-expected headline for finished goods that was helped by a fall in gasoline prices,” stated Alan Ruskin who is the chief international strategist at RBS Greenwich Capital in Greenwich, Connecticut.
While Schlossberg stated that Wednesday’s Ifo survey of the German business market could push the Euro to a high of $1.60, the slower euro-zone growth is making it uncertain how markets are going to fare when the bank’s make their next move. Some people do not agree, however, and feel that the healthy first quarter growth in the euro zone will not add to the confusion of the rising and falling economic conditions.
The currency markets related to the bank of Japan has managed to keep their borrowing costs to 0.50% as was expected and the Australian dollar hit their highest number - $0.9617 – in 24 years. This was announced shortly after the central bank’s policy meeting told everyone that they had been discussing raising interest rates which may indicate that a future hike may be in store. There is still no word on how the Federal Reserve will take the new data or whether or not they will officially announce an American recession, something the American people are already accepting.

Japan Finance Minister Weakens Yen Remarks

Japan's new Finance Minister Naoto Kan toned down his call for a weaker yen after the prime minister said the government should refrain from such explicit remarks.
The change in rhetoric caused the dollar to drop from a four-month high of Y93.78 to as low as Y93.11, although the market perception remains largely unchanged in that Kan wants the yen to fall to help Japanese exporters.
"In general, markets should determine" exchange rates, Kan told a regular news conference Friday. This was a turnaround from Thursday, when he took office and jolted markets by saying he wanted the yen "a bit weaker" and that many Japanese companies would prefer the dollar to rise to about Y95.
He changed tack after Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama sought to restrain the new minister, telling reporters, "When it comes to foreign exchange, stability is desirable and rapid moves are undesirable. The government basically shouldn't comment on foreign exchange."
Kan, who is also deputy prime minister, didn't back down altogether Friday, saying, "While the prime minister's statement is right in principle, I--as minister directly in charge of such matters--must give sufficient consideration to expectations and hopes held by the (Japanese) business sector" on the yen exchange rate.
But the shift in his tone didn't go unnoticed in the currency market. It "helped bring market sentiment to a more neutral level, and sparked dollar selling against the yen," said Motonari Ogawa, director of currency trading in Tokyo at Barclays Capital.
The dustup with the new finance chief underscores disagreement among Japanese policymakers on how much movement by the yen affects the nation's economy, which is slowly recovering from a deep recession. Some officials think a strong yen must be avoided because it hurts exports, a pillar of the economy. Others say it is best for the market to decide currency levels as long as movement is orderly.
The Finance Ministry is in charge of Japan's currency policy, including ordering the Bank of Japan to intervene in the market--something it hasn't done in nearly six years.
Despite Kan's fine-tuning of his remarks, speculation remains that he might order yen-selling intervention in case the Japanese currency rises sharply toward a 14-year high of Y84.82 marked on Nov. 27, some traders said.
"He has already driven home the message that his top priority is to support economic growth and that he prefers a weak yen," said Hideaki Inoue, chief foreign exchange manager at Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corp. "That could make speculators feel more wary of aggressively pushing the yen higher."
Inoue tipped the dollar to stay above Y90.00 in the coming few weeks, although he added that any rise above Y95.00 could be difficult.
Kan gave little away on how committed he is to combating any yen surges through intervention. But he reminded markets that he knows that the "finance minister here has the authority to take some action against the foreign exchange market in emergency situations." That follows his previous comments that the government would cooperate with the central bank to guide the yen to "appropriate" levels.
Kan tried to refute criticism from economists and local newspapers that he has unnecessarily upset the currency market with his remarks.
"I don't think my comments have had any negative impact on people in the (nation's) business community," he said. Japanese companies make assumptions on where the yen will be trading in the future in plotting their business plans, and if the currency's exchange rate deviates significantly from their forecast levels, "that could have various effects on the economy," he added.
He also indicated he will continue to speak up for what he thinks is right, saying: "if I pay too much attention (to the opinions of economists and others), I could end up becoming indecisive, and the results would be worse than otherwise."
The new minister, a heavyweight in Hatoyama's Democratic Party of Japan, has little background in economic or financial policy. He replaced Hirohisa Fujii, who stepped down citing health reasons.
Kan also tweaked some of his initial remarks on fiscal policy, stressing that reining in Japan's huge and widening budget deficit is important, as well as continuing to support the economic recovery.
"It's natural that we have to consider improving fiscal soundness," he said Friday. "I will keep stimulus steps and fiscal soundness in mind when implementing economic and fiscal policy--though the road ahead is narrow."

Gold Loses Early Gains as Dollar Recovers

Gold futures finished nearly steady, giving up most of their early gains as the dollar turned up.
The metal could be range-bound for the next few days as the currency and metals markets await the key event for the week, Friday's monthly U.S. employment report, some traders said.
The lightly traded but nearby January gold contract added 40 cents to settle at $1,118.10 an ounce on Tuesday on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, while most-active February gold also inched up 40 cents, to $1,118.70.
Gold declined for much of December as speculators sold to exit from positions and square books ahead of year's end. With the start of the new year on Monday, the metal rallied more than $22 an ounce as funds re-entered the market, encouraged by a softer dollar and general willingness to take on risk again, especially after strong manufacturing surveys around the world.
February gold had extended its gain to a nearly three-week high of $1,129.60 in overnight screen trading, which analysts at the time linked to a weaker tone in the U.S. dollar. Investors often buy gold as a hedge against dollar weakness.
The dollar later recovered, however, prompting gold to give back its gains, said Frank Lesh, broker and futures analyst with FuturePath Trading. Shortly after the gold pit closed on Tuesday, the euro had fallen back to $1.4362, from $1.4411 late Monday. Gold later traded slightly lower in after-hours screen trading. One trader said gold didn't have as much ammunition for a rally as on Monday since many funds that wanted to buy again in the new year had already done so.
Silver held on to more of its gains after chart-based buying was triggered, said Craig Ross, vice president of ApexFutures.com. March silver settled up 33.7 cents at $17.80 an ounce.
Meanwhile, April platinum settled up $13.90 to $1,537.80 an ounce. A trader mainly chalked this up to investment-type buying on the coattails of the slightly stronger tone in gold as of platinum's earlier close. March palladium closed up 55 cents at $421.95.

GMAC expects to post $5 billion loss

Troubled auto lender GMAC on Tuesday said it expects to suffer a fourth-quarter loss of about $5 billion, mostly because of struggles in its mortgage division.
The company said in an investor presentation that the loss is driven by a $3.8 billon pre-tax charge that largely reflects the decline in the value of its mortgage-related investments, which GMAC said it intends to sell.
Tuesday's announcement came a week after the Detroit-based company received an additional $3.8 billion in federal aid. GMAC has been unable to raise from private investors the money it needs to curtail losses. The government's latest infusion pushed the company's direct federal aid to $16.3 billion. In addition, the Treasury Department said it would increase its stake in GMAC to 56 percent from 35 percent.
The additional aid highlighted both the company's ongoing struggles and its importance to the administration's efforts to revive the auto industry. GMAC is the largest lender to General Motors and Chrysler dealerships and to their customers.
While it was created to finance GM auto sales, GMAC also focused heavily on mortgage lending during the housing boom. The company, no longer owned by GM, lost $13 billion during the past three years as borrowers defaulted on those loans.
Cerberus, the private-equity firm that bought GMAC from GM in 2006, still owns a 15 percent stake in the company and could benefit if the latest round of government aid helps the company return to profitability.

Euro, Dollar Up Vs Yen On Japan Fund Buys

-The dollar and the euro rose against the yen in Asia on Wednesday on buying by Japanese pension funds, as rising commodity prices and recent strong U.S. data encouraged purchases of higher-risk currencies.
Early in the day, the euro dropped to two-week low at Y131.27 in reaction to Fitch Ratings' downgrade of Iceland's credit ratings. But the decline provided an opportunity for Japanese pension funds and trust banks to buy the European currency on dips, traders said.
That left the euro slightly higher against the yen compared with levels late in New York, at Y132.11 compared with Y131.79. But the European currency remained slightly lower against the dollar, at $1.4359 from $1.4370. The dollar was higher at Y92.00 compared with Y91.72.
"The (global) economy is in a recovery phase with solid crude-oil and gold prices, encouraging long-term players to buy riskier units," said Akihiro Tanaka, a senior trader at Resona Bank. "Pension funds usually buy on the cheap" and this morning's trading was an example of that, he said. Traders tend to sell the yen for other currencies when the market's risk tolerance increases.
The market shrugged off local media reports that Japanese Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii would likely soon step down due to ill health, as Japan's policy on the yen isn't likely to change much even if someone new becomes finance chief, traders said.
"Even if the top official resigns, any confusion is unlikely, unless there are any huge policy changes," Resona's Tanaka said.
Traders said the market's outlook going forward would likely depend on how good the U.S. December jobs data from payroll giant Automatic Data Processing are. The data are due out later in the day.
If the numbers are better than expected and push up long-term U.S. Treasury yields, the dollar could break above the next resistance level of Y92.20 and the euro above Y132.30, traders said.
Economists polled by Dow Jones Newswires expect December's national employment report to log 78,000 lost jobs from a 169,000 decline in November.
The ICE Dollar Index, which tracks the dollar against a trade-weighted basket of currencies, was at 77.512 from 77.688 overnight in New York.

Oil nears $80

Oil prices rallied for a seventh straight session and neared $80 a barrel, as the market eyed the biggest annual gain in a decade.
Crude oil for February delivery rose 48 cents to $79.76 a barrel. Prices have spiked 9% in the last six sessions. During the last year, prices have climbed 78%, the largest yearly percentage gain since 1999, when prices jumped 112% during the year.Oil prices have recently pushed higher on falling crude inventories. A government report Wednesday showed supplies declining for a third straight week.
Prices were also supported by a softer dollar, which edger lower against the euro and the pound. Crude oil, like other commodities, is priced in dollars, and a weaker greenback tends to boost prices.
Oil prices are expected to head higher in 2010, fluctuating between $85 and $95 a barrel, according to Mike Fitzpatrick, vice president of energy at MF Global.
"If we see steady improvements in the business environment, demand for energy will grow and that will result in rising oil prices," Fitzpatrick said.
He added that mounting geopolitical tensions in Iran and conflicts in other regions with large reserves of oil could could also drive prices higher.
"If anything erupts that disrupts the supply of oil, prices could skyrocket depenThe rise of oil prices has also lifted gas prices, which have climbed more than 5 cents in the last week and more than $1, or 63%, in 2009.
Demand for gasoline has also increased during the holiday season, said AAA spokeswoman Christie Hyde, which in turn boosts prices.
Earlier this month, the motorist group projected holiday travel will rise 3.8% this during the holiday season. AAA estimated that the number of people flying will rise almost 3%, while those traveling by car will jump 4.4%.
The national average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gas increased to $2.639, up 1.6 cents from the previous day's $2.623, according AAA. This is the seventh consecutive increase.
Still, the average is $1.47, or 36%, below the highest daily average price of $4.114, posted July 17, 2008.
The highest gas prices are in Alaska, averaging $3.384 a gallon, and the lowest are in Wyoming, averaging $2.442. ding on the severity of the problem," Fitzpatrick said

'Avatar' No. 1 again, surpasses $1 billion

Thanks to astronomic word-of-mouth, inflated 3-D ticket prices, and consecutive holiday weekends that began on a Friday, "Avatar" continued its seemingly unstoppable climb to the Hallelujah Mountains of U.S. and global box office.
According to estimates from Hollywood.com Box Office, James Cameron's sci-fi opus grossed $68.3 million over New Years weekend, a tiny 10 percent drop from Christmas weekend for a $352.1 million domestic total -- easily the biggest third weekend in the U.S. ever (2002's "Spider-Man" had held the record with $45 million).
Much more impressively, in just 17 days, "Avatar" has surpassed $1 billion in the global box office. To put that in perspective, it took "The Dark Knight" pretty much its entire theatrical run just to make it to that milestone. (Another landmark: $66.4 million of "Avatar's" worldwide total is from IMAX theaters, a record for the mega-screen format.)
"Avatar" wasn't the only film to ring in the new year with serious box-office bounty, either. "Sherlock Holmes" sleuthed out an elementary $38.4 million for second place, a 41 percent drop for $140 million total.
Hot on its heels, "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel" chirped to $36.6 million, dropping just 25 percent for $157 million total and third place. (So what will the inevitable third film be called? The Second Squeakquel? The Threakquel?)
CNN iReport: Your film reviews
"It's Complicated" fell a bite-sized 15 percent, cooking up $18.7 million for fourth place and $59.1 million total.
And in fifth place, "The Blind Side" actually improved upon its total last week, rising 8 percent for $12.7 million and $209.1 million total. (As EW noted yesterday, this means star Sandra Bullock is the only actress ever to have a film marketed on her star power alone pass $200 million in U.S. box office.)
In fact, with no major debuts to steal away fresh audiences, it was simply a fabulous weekend to be in movie theaters, period. "Up in the Air" pitched down an imperceptible 3 percent with $11.3 million and $45 million total.
"The Princess and the Frog" hopped up 11 percent with $10 million and $86 million total. Even certified turkey "Did You Hear About the Morgans?" was up 4 percent, bringing in $5.2 million for a (still woeful) $25.6 million total.
Overall, the top ten box office was up 70 percent from last year, when "Marley and Me" was barking its way into filmgoers' hearts

Rusal, the world's largest aluminum producer

Rusal, the world's largest aluminum producer, said in the statement it plans to sell 1.61 billion shares at range of 9.10 Hong Kong dollars to 12.50 Hong Kong dollars ($1.17-$1.61).
Rusal is slated to price the shares Jan. 22, with their trading on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange beginning Jan. 27.
Hong Kong regulators had delayed approval of the IPO amid concerns over the company's $14.9 billion in debt, but eventually gave the go-ahead on condition that the offer be limited to professional and wealthy investors.
Under the terms of the Hong Kong offer, eligible investors must subscribe to a minimum of Rusal said it is also planning a secondary listing of global depositary receipts on the Euronext in Paris.
Figures released in the IPO prospectus showed the company swung to an $868 million net loss for the six months ended June 30, versus a net profit of $1.41 billion in the year-earlier period. Revenue in the first six months of 2009 totaled $3.76 billion, compared to $8.35 billion a year earlier, Rusal said.
"The group intends to use all of the net proceeds received from the global offering immediately to reduce outstanding debt and satisfy other obligations to its creditors," Rusal said in the statement.
Asia-based tycoon Robert Kuok and companies controlled by him will purchase combined shares worth about $20 million.
Russian state development bank Vneshekonombank has also agreed to subscribe to around 477.1 million shares, while hedge funds NR Investments Ltd. and Paulson & Co. will makes purchases worth about $50 million and $100 million, respectively, Rusal said.
All four investor groups have agreed to hold the shares for a minimum of six months.
Meanwhile, the state-run China Daily said earlier in the week that sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corp. is also considering a $300 million stake in the Russian firm. See full story on possible Rusal IPO investors.
The dominant shareholder in the company, Oleg Deripaska of Russia, will see his stake fall to 47.59% from 53.35% after the IPO, Rusal said. HK$1 million worth of shares. Once listed, the shares will trade in board lots of 24,000 each.

Dollar gains, stocks slip as year ends with bang

NEW YORK, Dec 31 (Reuters) - The dollar gained on Thursday but world stocks edged lower as a number of equity markets posted their best annual performance in years in anticipation of recovery from the worst recession since the 1930s.
Many commodities, stocks and even bonds posted double-digit gains in 2009 while some assets, such as copper futures and emerging market equities, doubled in price as investment returned to markets drained by the deep downturn in 2008.
Equity markets worldwide glowed. Asia stocks racked up a 68 percent gain for the year, regional European shares climbed 25 percent -- their best annual performance since 1999 -- and Wall Street closed out its best year since 2003.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 23.5 percent for the year, the Dow added 18.8 percent for 2009 and the Nasdaq climbed 43.9 percent from its close on Dec. 31, 2008.
Signs of economic strength, including a record percentage of companies beating profit expectations, pushed the broad market up more than 60 percent from the depths of the biggest bear market since the Great Depression on March 9.
"It shows how much of a recovery there's been," said Charles Lieberman, chief investment officer of Advisors Capital Management, LLC in Paramus, New Jersey. "It really was a turnaround year."
For a FACTBOX on global market losses and gains for 2009, click here [ID:nLDE5BT0P8]
MSCI's all country world index .MIWD00000PUS slipped almost 0.2 percent but gained about 31.5 percent for the year.
Oil rose 78 percent in its biggest annual climb in a decade and gold sealed its largest annual gain in three decades, rising for an unprecedented ninth year in a row. Gold climbed 23 percent for the year and silver jumped almost 49 percent.
Copper futures notched a 139 percent year-on-year rise, as fund buying and a looming mine strike in Chile buoyed prices on the final trading day of 2009. For details: [ID:nLDE5BU09B]
MSCI's Latin American stock index .MILA00000PUS ending the year about 98 percent higher.
Volumes were thin on the last day of 2009 with little economic data to trade on. The dollar rose to its highest level in more than three months against the yen after a report showed U.S. jobless claims fell to their lowest since mid-2008, affirming optimism about the economy. [ID:nN31536622]
A growing sense that recovery is taking hold helped oil finish the year above $79 a barrel, as it posted a seventh straight session of gains. Crude prices have risen 14 percent in just over two weeks.
U.S. stocks slipped after a reading on Midwest business activity was revised downward and investors sold some of the year's winners to lock in 2009's strong gains. [ID:nN31187861]
The Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed down about 1 percent, dropping the most just before the close.
The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI closed down 120.46 points, or 1.14 percent, at 10,428.05. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX fell 11.32 points, or 1.00 percent, at 1,115.10. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC slid 22.13 points, or 0.97 percent, at 2,269.15.
The dollar benefited from year-end buying after being sold off for most of 2009, as fund managers squared up their portfolios at the end of the year.
The greenback also erased losses against the euro. The euro EUR= was down 0.12 percent at $1.4315, and against the yen, the dollar JPY= was up 0.53 percent at 92.95.
The ICE Futures' dollar index .DXY was down 4.1 percent this year, but for December it was up about 4 percent, its best monthly performance since January.
The dollar was up against a basket of major currencies, with the dollar index up 0.04 percent at 77.944.
U.S. crude for February delivery CLc1 settled up 8 cents at $79.36 a barrel, almost half the all-time high of $147.27 hit in July 2008.
U.S. February gold futures GCG0 settled up $3.70 at $1,096.20 in New York.
Spot gold XAU= rose about $220 an ounce this year, a gain eclipsed in recent history only by 1979's $286 surge.
U.S. Treasuries prices eased in thin pre-holiday trade after lower-than-expected weekly jobless claims bolstered expectations of an economic recovery and undermined bonds' safe-haven appeal. [ID:nN31508841]
Benchmark 10-year notes US10YT=RR traded 11/32 lower in price to yield 3.84 percent. The yield earlier reached as high as 3.90 percent, the loftiest since early August and just below the year's high closing yield of 3.95 percent in June.
For a graphic comparing the 2009 performance of major stock markets, click on: here (Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch, Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss, Edward McAllister, Chris Reese and Frank Tang in New York; Joanne Frearson in London; writing by Herbert Lash; Editing by Diane Craft)