NEW YORK – A hotel has opened on the edge of ground zero, and executives say the view it offers on the World Trade Center site rebuilding is a selling point.

The World Center Hotel is still under construction on some floors but began taking reservations last month. Its Web site features photographs of a memorial and the construction.

The hotel offers some rooms with floor-to-ceiling windows that open directly onto the work site. Guests and members will have access to the restaurant patio with views of giant cranes, jackhammers and metal scaffolding auto loan rates.

Australian tourist Josh Rowlands says he would like to stay at a hotel with a view of the rebuilding, especially because it’s so hard to see into the pit from the street.

But German tourist Michael Meindorfer says he thinks staying there would be too sad.

Ground zero hotel wants to attract WTC tourists

Hot News: Canadian Markets: Canadian stocks rise as commodity prices gain

In the financial turmoil of the past decade, mutual fund investing has gotten decidedly more complicated. After all, over the course of just 10 years, investors have looked on as two bear markets ravished the economy, as a pair of bull markets jolted stocks back to life, and as the Internet and housing bubbles inflated to their breaking points and then burst.

For investors, the search for the perfect mutual fund has always been something of a holy grail quest. But in the midst of the past decade's abrupt market cycles, investors have approached their fund-hunting efforts with newfound intensity. With that in mind, U.S. News has created a unique rankings system that is designed for long-term investors looking for broad access to information about funds. In the process, U.S. News has assigned scores to upwards of 4,500 distinct mutual funds.

[Use the U.S. News Mutual Fund Score and the rankings of trusted fund analysts to find the best mutual funds for you.]

Overall, the scores–which are based on data from Morningstar, Zacks, Lipper, TheStreet.com, and Standard & Poor's–take into account short- and long-term performance, risk, expenses, and future prospects.

[See our methodology.]

So what do the best mutual funds look like? To explore this, U.S. News has analyzed its top-ranked fund from each of the following 11 Morningstar categories: large growth, large value, large blend ("blend" funds have both growth and value characteristics), foreign large blend, diversified emerging markets, health, short-term bond, intermediate-term bond, intermediate government bond, world bond, and moderate allocation. Overall, the 11 category-topping funds have quite a bit in common. Here are some traits that they share:

[Slide Show: 11 category-topping funds]

High-conviction portfolios. Pat English, a comanager of FMI Large Cap (FMIHX), which is the top-scoring large-blend fund in the U.S. News rankings, likes to say that only his team's best ideas will make it into the fund's portfolio. And he means it: FMI Large Cap generally owns just 25 to 30 stocks at a time. "We're not big believers in sheer numbers of names," says English.

Neither is Don Yacktman, a comanager of the Yacktman Fund (YACKX), which tops the large-value category. At the end of 2009, the fund owned fewer than 50 securities. "Beyond a certain point," Yacktman says, "the more diversification, the more likely one will get mediocre returns."

Meanwhile, for its part, Fidelity Select Medical Equipment and Systems (FSMEX), the best-ranked health fund, finished 2009 with just under 60 stock holdings.

Broadly speaking, running a heavily concentrated fund is a risky proposition. If even one bet goes sour, the fund is certain to feel the blow. At the same time, though, concentrated portfolios allow managers to invest only in companies they know intimately. "Concentrated portfolios can be more volatile but aren't necessarily so," says Adam Bold, the founder of the Mutual Fund Store, an investment management firm with more than 65 U.S. locations.

Another measure of portfolio conviction is a fund's turnover ratio, which quantifies how frequently management trades. Funds with low ratios have buy-and-hold mentalities and tend to have high degrees of confidence in their picks. Overall, the 11 funds have turnover ratios that are an average of 78.7 percent lower than their category averages.

Low costs. It's one of the perennial mutual fund debates: Should investors focus primarily on costs or on returns? In a vindication of cost-based fund picking, the 11 mutual funds examined by U.S. News have expense ratios (a measure of annual fees) that are, on average, 0.32 percent less than their category averages.

[See Should You Deep-Six Your Mutual Fund?]

"Costs play a big role in fund returns. You tend not to see it if you look too close up. In other words, if you look at a single year, that advantage of, say, 50 basis points or whatever isn't that big, especially in years like '08 or '09 when you've got huge negative or positive returns," says Russel Kinnel, Morningstar's director of mutual fund research. "But over time, it adds up to quite a significant difference."

Overall, this phenomenon is somewhat circular in nature. "Good performance leads to more assets, and more assets generally drive down expenses," says Kinnel.

Still, costs are one of the most contentious issues in the fund industry. "There are some things in life that are worth paying more for. There's a reason that a Mercedes-Benz costs more than a Kia," says Bold. "To me, it doesn't matter how much you pay the mutual fund company. What counts is how much they pay you cash till payday advance."

Ultimately, though, this tension between costs and returns may be more imagined than it is real: The funds that top the U.S. News rankings provide superior returns, and they do so at low costs.

Talented and consistent management. Six of the 11 category leaders have at least one manager who has been on board since the fund's inception. Overall, this continuity of management seems to boost a fund's ability to consistently apply strategies that will pay off in the long term.

English, who has been a comanager of FMI Large Cap since it launched in 2001, says low manager turnover helps funds develop coherent cultures. "The main thing is the culture," he says. "You need continuity because it's hard to spread that culture if you have a lot of change."

For his part, Bold says that picking a good management team is one of the most important decisions an investor can make. "The name of the fund doesn't matter," he says. "What counts are the people who are every day making the buy, sell, and hold decisions."

Among the top-performing funds in the U.S. News rankings, the biggest question mark in the management arena pertains to TCW Total Return (TGLMX), the best-scoring fund in the intermediate-term bond category.

Late last year, TCW fired Jeffrey Gundlach, who had served as the company's chief investment officer and was a celebrated comanager of the flagship Total Return fund. In the aftermath of the firing, Philip Barach, the other Total Return manager, also left TCW, as did dozens of other employees.

[For more on Gundlach's ouster, see The Decade's 10 Worst Fund Disasters.]

With the fund's two managers out the door, TCW quickly turned control of Total Return over to Tad Rivelle of Metropolitan West Asset Management. Rivelle brings significant experience to the job, but it remains to be seen how the shake-up will affect the fund's long-term performance.

Another management theme is that all 11 category leaders have active managers. "Actively managed funds are going to have a wider dispersal of performance," says Kinnel. "Those are the ones that are always going to be at the top and bottom of the rankings." At its most basic level, this cuts to the core of the active-passive debate. A good index fund, Kinnel says, will consistently earn investors market performance, but that's as far as it will go–its mandate isn't to beat the market.

Downside protection. After two bear markets in the course of a single decade, investors have learned the hard way that high-quality funds not only will earn more than the competition during strong markets but will also lose less during downturns.

The 11 top performers' returns beat their category averages by an average of 7.4 percent in 2008, primarily thanks to some well-timed defensive positions. Some residual indicators of these funds' defensive stakes still linger, largely in their cash holdings. As recently as the end of last month, for example, Sextant International (SSIFX), the top-ranked foreign large blend fund, had roughly 40 percent of its portfolio stashed away in cash.

Many of the other top-ranked funds also have large cash stakes. "When we feel that we've filled up on the really good ideas … we'd just as soon sit on some cash. If the opportunities are there, we'll buy things. It's just a matter of if they aren't attractive enough, we'd rather just sit on some [cash]," says Yacktman, whose fund had upwards of 11 percent of its portfolio in cash at the end of last year.

The reason large cash positions helped during the downturn is that they shielded funds from losses in the stock and bond markets. "A lot of the funds with good cash stakes naturally lost less in 2008," says Kinnel. "I don't think there's anything inherently good or bad about running with a lot of cash. I think it's just what works for the manager."

Another way the 11 funds protect their investors during bear markets is through careful stock picking. "We spend a great deal of time protecting the downside by making sure we don't overpay for anything on the front end," says English.

Meanwhile, some of the top-ranked funds hold up decently during recessions because of the very nature of their mandates. Health funds, for example, are commonly considered to be among the most defensive of investments, and they tend to outperform their competitors during weak markets. In 2008, Fidelity Select Medical Equipment & Systems lost 23.4 percent. By comparison, the S&P 500 was down by 38.5 percent that year.

The Best Mutual Funds for 2010

LONDON – The British subsidiary of Reader’s Digest filed for administration, a form of bankruptcy protection, in a move intended to help its parent company complete restructuring under bankruptcy protection in the U.S.

The parent, the Reader’s Digest Association Inc., said the action to isolate the British unit would allow it “to emerge from Chapter 11 promptly.”

The British subsidiary’s filing follows its failure to gain regulatory approval for a plan for funding a pension deficit, the company said Wednesday. Without approval for its plan to deal with the British pension issue, the company said the U.K. unit was unable to meet its debts and sustain its operations, the company said.

Reader’s Digest had hoped to emerge from Chapter 11 protection — under which a company in financial trouble is allowed to shed debts and restructure — by the end of the January but was delayed by the pension problem in Britain.

The pension proposal had been accepted by the company, pension trustees and the U saving account pay day loan.K. Pension Protection Fund, but was rejected by the U.K. Pensions Regulator.

“The agreement, which contemplated a lump sum payment by parent company RDA plus an equity stake in RDA UK, was authorized by the U.S. bankruptcy judge overseeing RDA’s U.S. Chapter 11 proceedings, and would have relieved RDA UK of significant financial obligations associated with its underfunded UK pension plan,” the company said in a statement from its headquarters in Pleasantville, N.Y.

“Absent an agreement, RDA UK is financially unable to meet those obligations and sustain its operations.”

The British pension issue does not affect any other part of the company, Reader’s Digest said.

A U.S. judge has already approved the company’s Chapter 11 plan, which cuts its debt load to $555 million from $2.2 billion.

Reader’s Digest UK unit files for administration

In 1870, the French novelist Victor Hugo had a vision. Planting an oak tree in his yard, he predicted that by the time it matured, a “United States of Europe” would have sprung up, strengthened by a common currency that would one day make the Continent a force to be reckoned with.

One hundred and forty years later, the dream, like Hugo’s tree, is alive — if a little twisted.

Around Europe, 27 nations now fly the flag of the European Union next to their own. Sixteen have ditched the drachmas, marks and other bills that symbolized their sovereignty to embrace a single currency, the euro, lending new power to their economic and trade bloc.

All that is now being called into question, however, as European leaders struggle to prevent ruinous spending by Greece from spiraling into a wider crisis or even breaking up the euro union. How they handle this problem could either propel Europe to greater economic and political clout in the decades ahead, or downgrade it to a sideshow in a global economic theater directed by China and the United States.

For the moment, things don’t look comforting for the euro. As the troubles in Greece drove the currency ever lower against the dollar last week, Europe’s politicians did what everyone has by now come to expect: they talked about a bailout for Greece, then talked some more about the need to take “coordinated action.”

Yet details of a rescue plan were put off to a future date. No mention was made of how they would prevent Portugal, Spain or other deficit-saddled economies from falling like dominoes. And questions about who would pay for any future blowups were answered with silence.

“Now is the time when Europe needs to speak as one voice,” said Simon Tilford, chief economist at the Center for European Reform in London. “The crisis should lead to political unity, but it could just as easily lead to a divided Europe.”

What explains this inertia? Even as the euro was being conceived, Germany, Europe’s sturdiest economy, was fretting about Europe’s tendency to freeze during a crisis. The German chancellor at the time, Helmut Kohl, and Otmar Issing, a German who was then the chief economist for the European Central Bank, feared that unless they set strict rules on euro membership, the new currency union could stumble.

Germany and other wealthy northern European nations might one day even find themselves transferring taxpayer money to support their poorer kin in the south, among them Greece, Portugal, Spain and Italy cheap pay day loans. Britain, one of Europe’s wealthiest nations, saw the writing on the wall and never surrendered its pound.

The seeds of the current debacle were planted early. In 2003, four years after the euro’s birth, France touched off a firestorm by spending lavishly to tame a recession, declaring with a shrug that it had agreed only to “the principle of Europe.” Nations like Portugal, which made painful budget cuts to qualify for euro membership, asked why they should sacrifice if a heavyweight like France didn’t. Greece and Italy echoed similar views.

With more governments using the euro like a credit card, it was only a matter of time before investors questioned their ability repay debt. In January, when Greece tried to raise funds to pay down some of its 53 billion euro deficit, investors forced the government to pay an annual interest rate of more than 6 percent on bonds that will mature in five years.

Now governments in Spain, Portugal and Italy are also facing demands for higher rates, and fears that they might have to quit the euro club are mounting. On Friday, the French bank Société Générale became the latest to question whether a bailout of Greece simply postponed “the inevitable breakup of the euro zone.”

What this means for dreams of a more united Europe remains far from clear.

When the dust settles, Europe will probably still be a union with separate national parliaments and fiscal policies, says Thomas Mayer, the chief economist of Deutsche Bank. But he says he foresees economic policies that will be more tightly coordinated between countries, with a mechanism to resolve crises like the one brought on by Greece today. If that happens, the number of stable countries adopting the euro would probably grow, cementing Europe’s economic might as the decades pass.

But if the politicians fail, Hugo’s vision of a United States of Europe would become more clouded, and Europe’s economic weight in the world would decline.

Already, some of the small Baltic nations that had been clamoring to get into the euro club are having second thoughts. And if Britons were wary of adopting the euro before, they must surely be nursing a silent schadenfreude as they watch Germany and France scramble to clean up after Greece. Don’t expect them to change their minds any time soon.

Contemplating the Future of the European Union

BERLIN/ZURICH (Reuters) – German politicians were divided at the weekend over whether to buy the bank data of up to 1,500 possible tax evaders with accounts in Switzerland that media say an informant has offered to sell authorities.

The respected Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported that the whistleblower is asking for 2.5 million euros for the confidential data, which tax investigators believe could rake in 100 million euros for German state coffers.

The case risks prompting a fresh row over bank secrecy between Germany and Switzerland. Top Swiss politicians, including President Doris Leuthard, and bankers warned Germany against acquiring the data.

Without citing sources, Financial Times Deutschland reported in its online edition that the data belonged to German clients of HSBC (HSBA.L) and was among the information stolen from its private banking arm in Geneva by ex-employee Herve Falciani.

France already acquired some of that information last year by raiding the computer specialist's house, and used it to track down fraudsters, infuriating Switzerland.

A spokesman for the German Finance Ministry declined to comment on the report but said it would be the responsibility of individual German states to deal with such data.

A senior ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel, Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, said Germany would have to carefully check its legal right to purchase the alleged data cash advance.

"I have a problem with handing over money for something that has come into someone's possession in a legally questionable fashion," Guttenberg told Swiss daily Neue Zuercher Zeitung.

Members of the opposition Greens and Social Democrats (SPD) however encouraged the government to buy the data on behalf of "honest taxpayers."

Nicolette Kressl, SPD finance expert, told Die Welt am Sonntag the government should proceed as it did in 2008, when it purchased data on tax evaders from an informant about clients of a Liechtenstein bank.

The case snared former Deutsche Post chief Klaus Zumwinkel, who was given a suspended jail term for evading nearly a million euros in taxes using a Liechtenstein trust.

Former Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck repeatedly accused Germany's neighbors Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Luxembourg of serving as havens for German tax evaders, but the three countries have taken steps in the last year to improve transparency on taxes amid a global crackdown on tax havens.

(Reporting by Sarah Marsh and Hans-Edzard Busemann in Berlin and Catherine Bosley in Zurich; writing by Sarah Marsh; editing by Andrew Roche)

Germany divided over buying secret Swiss bank data

HONG KONG (Reuters) – Stocks in Asia tumbled on Friday, hurt by weak technology and resources shares and fresh worries about Greece's debt levels, which dragged the euro to a six-month low against the dollar.

However, leading European shares (.FTEU3) were expected to inch higher, halting the market's worst sell-off in a year, despite mounting worries about weak euro zone members.

U.S. stock futures pointed to a slightly weaker open after key Wall Street indexes fell by up to 1.9 percent overnight as poor earnings and outlooks from Motorola (MOT.N) and Qualcomm (QCOM.O) dented optimism in the tech sector. (.N)

A massive recall of millions of vehicles by the world's top automaker Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) added to concerns about corporate earnings, while falling commodity prices hurt miners such as BHP Billiton Ltd (BHP.AX).

Samsung Electronics (005930.KS), the world's top maker of memory chips and LCD screens, failed to lift the gloom despite its forecast-beating earnings as Asian shares head for their worst monthly decline since January 2009.

Asia Pacific stocks outside Japan as measured by MSCI (.MIAPJ0000PUS) fell 2 percent to a 2-month low, with the materials index down 3.4 percent and the technology index off 1.8 percent.

Concerns over public finances in Greece and Portugal pulled the euro down to a six-month low against the dollar and a nine-month low versus the yen, a trend which has gained momentum as investors cut risky trades which had been funded by borrowing in the yen and dollar.

Investors have also been nagged this week by fears that the global economic recovery may be losing momentum, China's steps to cool its surging economy and political and regulatory wrangling in Washington.

"There is a general adjustment going on in risk appetite and risk sensitivity," said Peter Redward, head of Emerging Asia Research, Barclays Capital.

But he said the recent drop has been orderly and the sell-off has been notable because of the absence of panic.

"It shows there hasn't been a lot of large option-related, speculative position building. There isn't a lot of gamma floating around in terms of equities or fx," he added, referring to derivatives instruments which when triggered can lead to accelerated selling.

According to data from fund tracker EPFR Global, emerging markets equity funds saw their first week of net outflows in the period ended January 27 after 11 weeks of inflows as investors pared back their exposure amid fears of slowing growth in China, where authorities are reining in bank lending.

U.S. equity funds saw their biggest weekly outflow since late June while European equity finds suffered net redemptions for the third week in five, the data showed same day payday loans. But bond funds saw inflows, particularly emerging market local currency-denominated bonds.

The recent strength of the yen currency also hammered Japanese stocks, which received a further setback after Toyota announced it would extend to Europe and China a recall of millions of vehicles due to faulty accelerator pedals and floor mats.

Japan's Nikkei average (.N225) fell 2 percent to a six-week closing low, hurt by negative earnings surprise from chip equipment maker Advantest Corp (6857.T) which came after Nippon Steel Corp's (5401.T) warned of a first annual net loss in seven years. Advantest shares tumbled more than 10 percent.

Toyota fell 2 percent, bringing its losses this week to around 14 percent.

But analysts said broader market selling appeared to be largely driven by short-term investors, and funds with a longer-term horizon remained upbeat on the region's fundamentals.

"Some markets are quite oversold at the moment — the 12 month fundamentals for economies and earning are likely to be reasonably good," said Khiem Do, head of the Asia multi-asset group at Baring Asset Management, which oversees $50 billion.

"Prices are getting cheaper as a result of the liquidation of trading position. Our view is positive over next 6-12 months."

CURRENCIES

Currencies linked to global growth such as the Australian dollar and the New Zealand dollar fell to multi-week lows as investors moved out of higher-risk assets and on caution ahead of U.S. fourth-quarter GDP data to be released later on Friday at 8:30 a.m. EST.

Even though data on Thursday showed U.S. durable goods orders rose and jobless claims fell in the world's largest economy, analysts are wary it is not a strong recovery.

Mixed economic data from the world's other leading economies also continues to keep investors cautious.

After Japan's better-than-expected export growth earlier this week, data released on Friday showed the economy was in the grips of deflation with core consumer prices marking their tenth straight month of decline.

In commodities markets, crude oil looked set for a possible fourth day of losses sparked by forecasts of tepid oil demand in rich industrialized nations. U.S. crude futures eased 20 cents to $73.44 a barrel.

A firm dollar and concern over the pace and scope of credit tightening in China drove Shanghai copper down 3.5 percent, following a drop in London prices in the previous session.

(Editing by Kim Coghill)

Asia shares slide on resources, euro zone woes

NEW YORK, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) — The U.S. stocks finished mixed on Thursday as investors await the employment report due on Friday.

Wall Street opened lower in the morning after the Labor Department said that initial claims for jobless benefits rose 1,000 to 434,000 in the week ended Jan. 2.

Stocks rebounded from earlier lows as upbeat December retail sales reports were released and increased forecasts lifted some retailers.

U.S. retailers overall posted a 2.9-percent increase, exceedingthe 2-percent rise analysts were expecting and marking the best performance since a 3.4-percent gain in April 2008, according to Thomson Reuters Data.

Retailers from Macy’s Inc and Nordstrom Inc to Aeropostale Inc and Limited Brands Inc raised their earnings outlooks.

However, traders were still cautious, awaiting the government’s December nonfarm payrolls report which is expected to shed more light on economic recovery and set the tone for the market in following weeks payday loan no faxing.

After losing just 11,000 nonfarm payrolls in November, some analysts expect payrolls to have declined by another 10,000 last month, lifting the unemployment rate to 10.1 percent, while others believe the report may show some job creation.

Shares of Sears Holding Corp rose 11.6 percent to 99.18 U.S. dollars after forecasting strong fourth-quarter profit.

GE shares rose 5.2 percent to 16.25 dollars after J.P. Morgan raised its price target, saying investors underappreciate potential earnings recovery at the GE Capital finance unit.

The Dow Jones added 33.18, or 0.31 percent, to 10,606.86. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index was up 4.54, or 0.40 percent, to 1,141.68 and the Nasdaq was down 1.04, or 0.05 percent, to 2,300.05.

Wall Street trades mixed as investors await key employment data

Hot News: MarketWatch First Take: Greece told its on its own

HONG KONG (Reuters) – Tokyo stock market rose to its highest close in three months on Tuesday as exporters were spurred by the dollar's rally against the yen and technology shares gained off the back of an Intel upgrade.

Asian shares rose across the board as technology stocks tracked a rally in their peers on Wall Street that took the Nasdaq to a 15-month high.

European stock markets were set to open slightly higher, according to financial spreadbetters, while U.S. equity stock futures were up 0.3 percent.

The dollar touched 91.49 yen, its highest level since late October, helped by the unwinding of short positions ahead of the year end. The dollar was steady against a basket of major currencies (.DXY) after reaching multi-week highs on Monday.

Recent robust U.S. economic data is supporting the dollar, raising expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve may raise interest rates sooner than earlier thought.

"It does all get back to when the Fed may or may not be tightening policy and the market is heading toward thinking they will get to tightening in Q3 next year," said Greg Gibbs, a currency strategist at RBS in Sydney.

Gold picked up, trading at $1,094.20 an ounce after hitting a six-and-a-half week low at $1,090.65 on Monday. It has been depressed by the dollar's rebound and is nearly 11 percent below record highs hit earlier this month.

AUSSIE DOLLAR SKIDS

Tokyo's Nikkei average (.N225) rose 1.9 percent to a three-month closing high. Shares of high-tech exporters gained after the tech-heavy Nasdaq hit the 15-month high, spurred by a brokerage upgrade of Intel Corp (INTC.O) that cited solid "end-market" conditions.

Tokyo Electron Ltd (8035.T), the world's No.2 semiconductor equipment maker, climbed 3.8 percent and chip-tester maker Advantest Corp (6857.T) firmed 4.5 percent. Sony Corp (6758.T) gained 2.7 percent payday loans.

Toshiba Corp (6502.T) climbed 4.7 percent, while DRAM chipmaker Elpida (6665.T) gained 4.6 percent.

High-tech shares had also advanced on Monday following solid quarterly results from Oracle (ORCL.O) and BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIMM.O).

Taiwan's United Microelectronics Corp (2303.TW), the world's No. 2 contract chip maker, jumped 2.5 percent.

The MSCI index of Asia Pacific stocks traded outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS) rose nearly 1 percent, backed by the technology advances. The index has surged 60 percent this year.

Markets will be watching U.S. home sales data and a final reading of Q3 U.S. GDP due later on Tuesday for further indications about the health of the world's biggest economy.

Chicago Fed President Charles Evans said on Monday he expected the U.S. economy to grow by 3 to 3.5 percent over the next 18 months.

U.S. Treasury yields hit a four-month high as markets speculate that a faster U.S. economic recovery means the U.S. will raise rates before the euro zone.

Rising U.S. yields are eating into the Australian dollar's interest rate advantage, pushing it to an 11-week low at $0.8764.

Expectations for more M&A activity in the new year boosted Australian shares (.AXJO), which rose 1.5 percent.

The dollar's strength has also put pressure on oil, but it held steady on Tuesday at $73.84 a barrel ahead of an OPEC meeting in Angola, where the cartel is expected to leave output limits unchanged.

"Currency is the most important factor at the moment to move the crude market," said Ken Hasegawa, a commodity derivatives sales manager at broker Newedge in Tokyo.

(Additional reporting by Charlotte Cooper in Tokyo and Judy Hua in Singapore; Editing by Neil Fullick)

Tokyo hits 3-month high as tech shares rally

DUBLIN — The Irish airline Ryanair said Friday that it had pulled out of talks to buy 200 aircraft from Boeing, and would now trim its investment plans starting in 2011 to cut costs and free up more cash for dividends.

Ryanair shares were up 5.4 percent in morning trading in Dublin, the top gainer among leading European stocks.

Michael O’Leary, the chief executive, said he had no plan to reopen talks with Boeing or any other aircraft manufacturer, and would focus on maintaining Ryanair’s strong traffic and new route growth into 2010.

The low-cost carrier, which is one of Europe’s biggest airlines, said it aimed to reduce capacity growth from 2011 and return surplus cash to shareholders from 2012-2015.

“It is appropriate to return these surplus funds to shareholders if we cannot use them to purchase aircraft on terms which enable us to meet our demanding return on cpital targets,” Mr instant payday loans. O’Leary said.

Analysts said Ryanair would not be able to meet its long-term earnings target if growth slowed or ended after 2012, forcing it to eventually increase average fares. “Given the already low cost base, further significant unit cost savings will be difficult to deliver,” Arbuthnot said in a note.

Ryanair, which has thrived on consumers trading down in the recession, said its plan for receiving 112 Boeing aircraft from 2010-12 was unaffected, and it would continue to work with Boeing on the 48 deliveries scheduled for 2010.

The company had previously said a deal for 200 Boeing 737-800 aircraft for 2013-16 delivery was in doubt because the U.S. planemaker wanted to change conditions.

Reuters

Ryanair Drops Order for 200 Boeing Planes

Hot News: Shares End Mixed as Fed Holds Rates Steady

LONDON (Reuters) – Bailed-out U.S. insurer American International Group (AIG.N) plans to file a prospectus for a multibillion-dollar IPO of its Asian life insurance unit before Christmas, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.

The Hong Kong IPO of American International Assurance is expected to raise $10 billion to $20 billion, the paper said.

"AIA and its advisers are working round the clock to submit the filing before Christmas," the paper quoted a person familiar with the matter as saying. "Nobody involved wants this to hang around for much longer."

Filing a draft prospectus with stock exchange authorities before Christmas would trigger a formal three-month process that would set a path for a listing in the second quarter of 2010, the paper said inferred heaters.

AIG has appointed Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) and Morgan Stanley (MS.N) as its joint global coordinators of the IPO, which will generate huge fees for the banks involved.

Goldman Sachs (GS.N) and Citigroup (C.N), which both advised on an aborted sale of AIA earlier this year, have emerged as front runners for more junior book-runner positions, along with Credit Suisse (CSGN.VX)(CS.N), the Financial Times said, citing people familiar with the situation.

(Reporting by Kylie MacLellan; Editing by Gary Hill)

AIG to file prospectus for AIA IPO: report