Blackstone buying Hilton

Private equity firm Blackstone Group said Tuesday it would buy Hilton Hotels Corp. for about $26 billion cash, a deal that will give Blackstone one of the leading brand names in the hotel business.

Under terms of the deal, Blackstone (Charts) will pay $47.50 for each share of Hilton (Charts, Fortune 500), one of the most prominent global hotel brand names.

That's a 32 percent premium over Tuesday's closing price. Ahead of the post-close announcement, shares of Hilton had risen 6.4 percent to close at $36.05 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Options volatility and volume in Hilton stock was well above average before the close of trade Tuesday, said Paul Foster, an options strategist at theflyonthewall.com.

The battle to be 'King of the Street'

The deal is expected to close during the fourth quarter of 2007 and was approved by Hilton's board of directors on Tuesday, the company said.

Blackstone, which raised $4.1 billion in an IPO late last month, said it intends to invest in the Hilton properties and brands globally to enhance and grow the business.

The hotel industry is enjoying a multiyear boom as robust demand has allowed hoteliers to steadily raise rates. The upbeat market environment, supported by limited construction of new hotels, has made lodging assets hot commodities.

Many investors think the notoriously cyclical U.S. hotel industry has more room to grow and could provide risk-adjusted returns that outperform other asset classes, according to Thomas Callahan, an analyst with hospitality industry tracking firm PKF Consulting in San Francisco.

"The perspective is that the industry still has a few more good years left in this upturn that began -- depending

Blackstone already has a significant portfolio of hotel and resort properties, which includes more than 100,000 hotel rooms in the United States and Europe. Its properties include La Quinta Inns and LXR Luxury Resorts and Hotels.

Hilton's brands include Hilton, Conrad Hotels & Resorts, Doubletree, Embassy Suites, Hampton Inn, Hilton Garden Inn, Hilton Grand Vacations, Homewood Suites by Hilton, and The Waldorf-Astoria Collection.

The Hilton chain was founded in 1919 by Conrad Hilton, the great-grandfather of U.S. celebrity socialite Paris Hilton.

Her grandfather Barron Hilton, co-chairman of the Hilton board of directors, owns 5.3 percent of Hilton shares, according to the company's April proxy. He is the brother of the late Conrad Nicholson Hilton Jr., called Nicky, who was the first husband of actress Elizabeth Taylor.

Private equity IPOs unfazed by taxman

Blackstone said it expects no significant divestitures as a result of the transaction.

So far this year, several private equity groups have made multibillion-dollar offers for hotel assets.

Investors believe the limited supply of new hotel rooms in key markets means they can achieve higher returns by buying and investing in existing hotels, said Joseph Toy, president of Hospitality Advisors LLC in Honolulu.

"The game here is acquire at a premium, then renovate and reposition," Toy said. "And with capital as abundant as it is, it's something we're seeing across the market, including Hawaii."

Last month, Goldman Sachs' (Charts, Fortune 500) real estate fund, Whitehall, said it would buy Equity Inns Inc., a mid-market hotel chain, in a deal worth $2.2 billion including assumed debt.

Also in June, Legacy Hotels Real Estate Investment Trust, the biggest lodging REIT in Canada, said it was in talks with investment groups over a possible takeover and had received nonbinding offers valuing its equity at $1.36 billion.

In February, luxury hotel operator Four Seasons Hotels Inc agreed to a $3.37 billion takeover offer from a group that included Bill Gates' Cascade Investments LLC and Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal.

In January, a unit of Wall Street investment bank Morgan Stanley said it would buy privately held REIT CNL Hotels & Resorts Inc. in a transaction worth $6.6 billion.

Hilton said last month that it had a letter of understanding with Somerston Hotels UK Ltd to develop new hotels in the United Kingdom.

The hotel workers union UNITE HERE applauded the proposed Blackstone deal Tuesday, saying it enjoys a "positive partnership" with Hilton and that Blackstone "has demonstrated its commitment to fair treatment" for workers.

Blackstone shares closed up 45 cents at $29.72 on the New York Stock Exchange Tuesday.

Nokia N73

The Nokia N73 is endowed with all possible advanced multimedia functions to make an impression as a mobile computer than just a mobile phone. Next in line after the highly successful Nokia N70, this imaging wizard is even a great media player, office tool and a powerful communicator. The Nokia N73 is enriched with features that are necessary requirements of your life – both personal and professional. All great tools and functions of this smartphone is accomodated in a sleek candy bar case in colour choices of Silver Grey-Deep Plum, Frost White-Metallic Red and a Black, Music Edition version.

Neat short cut buttons and keypad with a beautiful 2.4-inch (diagonal) QVGA screen with display capacity of 262,144 colours is a sight to behold. The handset's user interface, as well as pictures and videos seen on Nokia N73 come out apt and really clear even under the bright sun. The Light Sensor of the Nokia N73 makes sure images produced does not fade away in different light conditions. The handset's weight of 116 grams seems quite decent for a 3G smartphone with such evolved imaging skills.

The Nokia N73 is loaded with a elite 3.2 megapixel camera module with Carl Zeiss optics. This camera phone has the same feel like that of a digital camera. Sliding protective cover to activate the camera, dedicated capture key, zoom keys gives the handset a feeling of any normal digital camera. Furthermore, full-screen landscape viewfinder, auto focus and mechanical shutter further accentuates the imaging experience. To add fun to it, the Nokia N73 is made ready to share pictures on sites like Flickr.com etc. You might want to stick to the 'old school' of image sharing via MMS or even emails.

The Nokia N73 comprises of number of productive tools based on Symbian OS platform. Voice connectivity via quad band GSM network, data connectivity via 3G, EDGE and GPRS, Bluetooth, Infrared and USB for local connection – the Nokia N73 has it all that you'd expect in an N series phone.

Toyota's next generation

Toyota's next generation Prius likely won't have the spectacular boost in fuel economy that was once expected. In late May, the Japanese newspaper Nikkan Koyogo reported that Toyota was considering nixing the idea of putting lithium-ion batteries in the next generation Prius. The newspaper stated that there were concerns within the company about the safety of lithium-ion batteries -- something that Sony is already well aware of.

The Wall Street Journal confirmed today that the next-generation Prius will not use lithium-ion battery technology -- at least for the first few years. The lithium-ion batteries that were to be used in the Prius would have been provided by Panasonic EV Energy Company.

The Prius will instead continue to use nickel-metal hydride batteries -- albeit in a higher capacity form to boost mileage over the current generation vehicle.

Toyota's decision to not use lithium-ion battery technology could be a big break for General Motors. GM has long been in Toyota's shadow when it comes to hybrid technology, but the company is looking to reverse its fortunes in the coming years.

The company has launched its new "mild hybrid" Saturn Aura Green Line sedan and is nearing the release of dual-mode hybrid Chevrolet Tahoe and GMC Yukon full-size SUVs. GM's coup de grâce, however, could be the upcoming Saturn Vue Green Line mid-sized crossover.

In 2009, the Saturn Vue Green Line will be equipped with a 2-mode hybrid powertrain and plug-in capabilities. Owners will be able to charge their vehicle overnight via a standard 110-volt outlet and drive 10 miles on fully charged lithium-ion batteries before the internal combustion engine takes over. In addition, GM says that its plug-in hybrid Vue Green Line is good for 70MPG.

All hope is not lost for the Prius in the quest for increased fuel economy. Current and future Prius owners can always look to third-parties to retrofit their vehicles with lithium-ion batteries. Lithium Technology Corporation has produced a lithium-ion battery pack (comprised of 63 LTC LiFePO4 cells) for the current Prius. When coupled with a plug-in system, fuel economy jumps from 46MPG combined to 125MPG

Is Baidu still a buy?

Is Baidu still a buy?
Think that Google’s (GOOG) stock has been on a tear lately? Maybe so, but Google’s got nothing on Baidu (BIDU), aka the Google of China.
Shares of Baidu, China’s top search engine, have surged more than 40 percent in just the past month. The stock is up about 72 percent year-to-date. But the stock took a bit of a breather on Monday after Citigroup analyst Jason Brueschke downgraded Baidu from “buy” to “hold” citing valuation concerns. The stock dipped about 2 percent in mid-afternoon trading.
Still, that’s not that big of a drop considering how much momentum the stock has had lately. And a closer inspection of the Citigroup report shows that Brueschke isn’t exactly turning into a Baidu bear.
“To be clear, we do not recommend liquidating an entire position in Baidu,” he wrote, adding that he believes Baidu will report revenues for the second quarter that are higher than Wall Street’s consensus expectations of $48.9 million, which would be an increase of 105 percent from a year ago. What’s more, Brueschke even raised his price target for Baidu to $218 a share, about 12 percent higher than the stock’s current price.
I’ve already written about how Baidu and several other Chinese Internet stocks such as Sohu (SOHU), Sina (SINA) and Shanda Interactive (SNDA) have been hot performers as of late. Baidu’s gains have dwarfed the appreciation of these stocks, though.
But that’s precisely what makes putting new money into Baidu a little bit of a scary proposition now.
Much like Google, Baidu’s growth potential appears, on the surface, to justify its performance. But as Brueschke points out, the valuation may be ahead of itself. Baidu’s triple digit P/E - the stock trades at 107 times 2007 earnings estimates - makes it an exceptionally expensive stock.
Sure, profits are expected to increase by nearly 70 percent this year and in 2008 and at about a 48 percent clip, on average, for the next five years. But the stock is a bigger gamble now since expectations for the next few quarters are so high.
After all, Baidu has surpassed earnings estimates by nearly 20 percent a quarter, on average, for the past four quarters. So the pressure is on Baidu to keep wowing the Street in order to satisfy the momentum investors that have bid up the stock to just under $200 a share in the past few weeks.
That’s exactly why Ryan Jacob, manager of the Jacob Internet fund, has been reducing his stake in Baidu recently. He still owns a small position in the stock in his fund but said he’s concerned about the valuation.
“The problem is that Baidu is such an early stage company. By far, they are the search leader in China and all indications are that they will have a very strong quarter. But we’ve cut back our position because at these prices, there’s a lot more risk,” he said.
Still, Jacob agreed with Brueschke and said investors should not completely bail on Baidu.
“Long-term, this is what’s hard. Baidu’s extremely well positioned and they’ve done an excellent job competing against Google and other local players in search. So eventually, the company will justify its valuation,” he said, but added that there’s more to China than Baidu and recommended that investors diversify their holdings in the country.As such, he also owns Sohu, Sina, Chinese travel site Ctrip (CTRP) and Tencent, a popular instant messaging company. Tencent shares aren’t as easy to purchase for the average investor, though, since they trade only in China and do not have a U.S. Nasdaq listing

iphone

David Flashner thought he had it wired: Buy two iPhones last Friday when they first went on sale, keep one and sell the other at a profit so big it would pay for most of the first one.

Flashner wasted no time. He began advertising the extra phone while still in line at an Apple store in Burlingame, Calif., south of San Francisco. During his 21-hour wait, he posted half a dozen ads to website Craigslist .com — with prices ranging from $800 to $1,200 — and waited for the calls to come in.

But no calls came because consumers expect that stores will soon have phones in stock. He continued to advertise the extra phone through the weekend, and ended up with just one call, which went nowhere. On Wednesday, he returned the phone.

Flashner, 25, who manages an audio-visual equipment rental company, is not the only would-be iPhone reseller whose plan failed to follow the script. "I haven't heard of a single person who sold one," he said.

Across the nation, people looking to make a quick and easy profit bought one, two or as many phones as they could by recruiting friends to stand in line with them. Many of them were the first to get in line, camping overnight outside the stores. But now they are finding that the iPhone is much more like a Harry Potter book than a hard-to-find Wii video game machine: a great thing to be one of the first to own, but not high in resale value because supply is not constrained.

Last Friday, just after the first iPhones were sold, thousands of listings showed up on eBay and Craigslist, with prices of $1,000 for the 8-gigabyte phone, a $400 markup. Some bold sellers were asking $2,000. But as it became clear that supply was meeting demand, they found themselves stuck. Few of the phones have sold for more than $700, which after sales tax, is not a remarkable profit margin.

Corey Spring, a columnist at newsvine.com who analyzed eBay auctions, estimated that a significant number of sellers "were only making their money back, even closing at a loss." Most Apple stores in the United States have no phones available, but the most-determined customers seem to have been able to buy phones. Few people seem willing to pay even $100 over the retail price.

Some frustrated resellers say they will keep trying, then return their extra phones within the 14-day return period.

Demand for the phone was remarkably strong in the first days. Analysts estimate that Apple and AT&T stores have sold around 500,000 phones so far. One analyst ventured a guess as high as 700,000. But Apple appears to have anticipated demand and contracted with manufacturers in Asia to build far more. Apple has said it expects to sell as many as 10 million phones by the end of 2008.

Over the last few weeks, Apple stirred a great deal of speculation about inventory levels by shrouding them in secrecy. As a result, resellers decided to take a chance. The company declined to comment on the rush to resell the phones or on the status of iPhone inventories.

Job growth, subprime on investors' minds

NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Investors are hoping this week brings some answers to the question of whether an improving U.S. economy unleashes inflationary forces, and one place to look will be in the government's June employment report.
At the same time, the potential for defaults in subprime loans to spill over to the general economy remains a concern. Nervousness that tighter credit may affect the availability of financing for buyouts prompted investors to sell banks' and brokers' shares on Friday, which helped cut short a morning rally.
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In this holiday-shortened week, the most significant data, the June payrolls report, will come on Friday.
U.S. financial markets will be closed on Wednesday, July 4, for the Independence Day holiday and the New York Stock Exchange will close early, at 1 p.m. ET on Tuesday.
Stocks can't muster turnaround
Last month, investors were cheered by news that employers added 157,000 jobs in May. But a Reuters poll of economists found forecasts for weaker job growth in June: analysts on average said payrolls added 120,000 jobs last month.
Bill Dwyer, chief investment officer at MTB Investment Advisors in Baltimore, expects growth of 120,000 to 130,000 jobs. "I think the economy is still chugging along and the consumer is in pretty decent shape," Dwyer said. He added that with decent economic fundamentals, no recent announcements of major layoffs and signs that manufacturing is picking up, the payrolls report should be at or a little better than the consensus.
Other reports due during the week include the Institute for Supply Management's readings on June manufacturing, on Monday, and the services sector, on Thursday. The Reuters survey forecasts that ISM's June index of national factory activity will be unchanged at 55.0. The ISM services index is expected to drop to 58.0 from 59.7 in May. Any reading above 50 points to growth in the sector.
Al Kugel, chief investment strategist at Atlantic Trust in Chicago, noted that some recent data from regional Federal Reserve banks has been good. He said he expects the ISM data to be strong. "People need some new information to become more bullish and the ISM could be the trigger," he said.
The stock market turned in a strong performance for the second quarter, but has hit a wall in recent weeks after Treasury bond yields climbed above 5.0 percent and problems surfaced at two Bear Stearns hedge funds that held investments in subprime loans, home mortgage loans to borrowers with weak credit.
Cracks in the buyout boom
For the second quarter, the Dow industrials jumped 8.5 percent, the S&P 500 rose 5.8 percent and the Nasdaq gained 7.5 percent. So far for the year, the Dow is up 7.6 percent, the S&P is up 6 percent and the Nasdaq 7.8 percent.
After losing ground Friday, the Dow finished last week up 0.4 percent, the Nasdaq gained 0.6 percent and the S&P ended little changed.
In the week ahead, Tuesday will bring its fair share of numbers. A government report on May factory orders is due that day, along with car and truck sales in June. After a lull this week, S&P 500 companies' earnings will begin to trickle out the following week and then the quarterly deluge begins later in July.
Bob Millen, co-portfolio manager of The Jensen Portfolio, a $2.3 billion mutual fund, noted that S&P 500 earnings growth is down significantly from the double-digit readings of a year ago. He said price-to-earnings multiples are unlikely to expand, and that companies generating significant revenue from outside the United States are the best bets now.
News of a probe into two Bear Stearns (Charts, Fortune 500) hedge funds heavily invested in subprime mortgages added to investors' worries last week that the potential fallout could spread throughout the banking industry. One company was forced to postpone a bank loan and another firm delayed the pricing of a $1.1 billion high-yield bond offering.
Mergers fail to lift media stocks
Referring to the problems in subprime debt, which have devastated some hedge funds that made heavy bets in the sector, RiverSource Investments chief market strategist David Joy said he believes that "it's the primary preoccupation of equity investors and that is going to continue next week.
"The issue is: 'Does it result in a tightening of lending standards that could spill over into a general credit tightening?' That's the biggest concern."
As for the week's statistics, Joy said he will be watching the average hourly earnings figure that is included with the payrolls data, as well as the prices paid numbers in the ISM reports."Our view is that inflationary pressures are probably going to increase in the second half of the year" but at a modest rate as the economy picks up steam, Joy said.

Oil steady above $70; terror risk considered

SINGAPORE (Reuters) -- Oil prices steadied Monday, the start of a holiday-shortened week, as traders looked ahead to a recovery in U.S. refinery use to offset declining gasoline stockpiles.
U.S. light crude eased 13 cents to $70.55 a barrel in electronic trading, after a $1.11 rally Friday to the highest settlement since August 2006. London Brent crude traded 9 cents lower at $71.32, after gaining 89 cents Friday.
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Oil traders worried about geopolitical supply risks saw London's Heathrow airport and New York's JFK terminal reopened Sunday after bomb scares, following an explosion at a Scottish airport Saturday and failed car bombing attempts in London.
"We can see some profit taking after short covering brought the market up to $71," said Ken Hasegawa at Himiwari CX in Tokyo. "The market will be rangebound until the U.S. holiday."
Wednesday's Independence Day holiday will delay until Thursday weekly U.S. inventory data, in which some analysts expect to see higher U.S. fuel production after several plants returned from maintenance.
Retail gasoline price dips below $3
ConocoPhillips (Charts, Fortune 500) planned to begin a restart of a gasoline-making unit in Texas Friday, while two crude units at a BP (Charts) refinery in Indiana, the country's fifth biggest, will reach full rates within two to three weeks after a fire slashed output in April.
A series of outages in the world's top consumer has helped drive down gasoline stockpiles during peak summer demand, though crude stockpiles have risen to nine-year highs despite OPEC production cuts.
Oil market speculators trimmed their exposure to rising prices in the week ended June 26, paring their net long gasoline and heating oil positions from the previous week's multi-year highs. Crude oil net length was almost unchanged.
Crude stockpiles in Cushing, Okla. - the delivery point for U.S. crude futures - fell by 1.4 million barrels in last week's data, leaving the price gap between American and European oil benchmarks at under $1 a barrel after U.S. crude has been trading at an atypical discount to Brent since February.
Iran's dispute with the West over the country's nuclear program is still in focus after an Iranian official said Saturday a team from the U.N. nuclear watchdog will visit Iran on July 11-13 for discussions.Worries over Iran's nuclear dispute together with disruptions to Nigerian supplies, OPEC supply curbs and growing fuel demand have left Brent oil prices up 17 percent this year.

Bil Gates no longer the richiest man

Bill Gates appears to have been dethroned as the world's richest man. But based on his past comments, he probably isn't disappointed. The Microsoft Corp. chairman and co-founder has been overtaken on the world's richest list by Mexican telecommunications tycoon Carlos Slim, according to a Mexican financial news service quoted by Reuters.
A 27 percent surge in the stock price of Slim's wireless company, American Movil, in the second quarter has put his worth at close to $67.8 billion, Reuters reported Tuesday.
Reuters quoted financial tracker Eduardo Garcia, from Sentido Comun, an online financial publication. Garcia estimated that Gates was worth $59.2 billion, Reuters reported.
At a Microsoft conference in Redmond last year, advertising executive and TV host Donny Deutsch asked Gates if he would be upset if someday he were no longer the world's richest man."I wish I wasn't," Gates replied. "There's nothing good that comes out of that."
"It's better than being second," Deutsch said.
"No," Gates replied. "You get more visibility as a result of it."
On this spring's Forbes list, Slim was just behind Warren Buffett, an investor and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, who had been second on the list for years.
Forbes reported then that Gates, who had topped its list for 13 years, and Buffett were quickly losing ground to Slim. In April, Forbes reported that Slim had overtaken Buffett and was on his way to passing Gates.

Money bank trade

As of early 2007, commercial banks in the US had total assets of $9,700 billion, and total liabilities of $8,900 billion. Almost 90% of each were due to domestically-chartered institutions.The ten largest banks control assets of $4,900 billion, $3,700 billion being domestic assets. With the exception of HSBC, all of the top ten are entirely US-owned institutions.2006 saw feverish M&A activity in the US, with a total deal value of $1,500 billion; activity in Europe was also intense. While private equity firms are increasingly involved, money center banks are still generating substantial revenues through these deals. The regulatory framework for large banks is due to change, with Basel II compliance likely to demand greater capital reserves, and increase costs. As banks grow larger, the requirement that none should hold more than 10% of the nation's deposits is being seen as restrictive. The fate of this federal cap on deposits may affect banks' organic and inorganic growth.Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, Bank of America, and HBSC Holdings are all leading players in this sector.

London Hotels

Milesfaster.co.uk are specialists for hotels in London, UK. Whether you are looking for a broad choice of accommodation, or looking to make a reservation in a particular area, near a London airport, in a particular postcode or close to a landmark we have a section of the website for you. Book online or by phone. If your looking for a cheap hotel why not try the most popular areas for budget class (1, 2, 3 star) accommodation, Bayswater, Paddington, Pimlico/Victoria SW1 and Earls Court. For hotels in the upper to luxury class (4, 5 star) try accommodation around Mayfair W1 and St James's SW1. To get a feel of what to expect in London why not visit our images gallery where you will find pictures not available on any other website.HOTEL NEWSConrad Hotel now becomes the Wyndham Chelsea HarbourGreat Eastern Hotel to become London's first 'Andaz' branded hotel. This is the luxury section of the Hyatt chain.Lanesborough offers free unlimited landline phone calls.Holiday Inn to take over the Marriott Courtyard hotels.Regent Palace Hotel shuts for good.Ramada Heathrow shut for total rebuildPétrus restaurant at The Berkeley Hotel gains second Michelin StarCENTRAL LONDON: CHARING CROSS?Officially the centre of London is taken as Charing Cross Station. However as far as the tourist heart of the capital is concerned its really on the South East side of the central areas. For the purposes of measuring distances on this website we use Piccadilly Circus as the point of reference as we believe in the real world it represents the central tourist heart of London for most people. The distance between the two is actually only 0.4 miles.HOTEL AND TICKET HOLIDAY PACKAGES / SPA BREAKS / GOLF BREAKS / THEME PARK BREAKS / SPECIAL OFFERSHotel and ticket packages available for sporting events, music concerts, cultural breaks, Spa breaks, Golf breaks, theme park breaks and special events.WIMBLEDON TENNIS FORTNIGHT 25TH JUNE > 8TH JULY>>>HOTELS NEAR WIMBLEDON TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPSSPECIAL EVENT: Murder mystery package at a top London Hotel.MUSIC EVENT: Billy Joel live in Birmingham during JulyTHEME PARK BREAK: Alton Towers theme park break hotel and ticket packages.PACKAGES: London Pass: Free admission for London Attractions.EUROPEAN RAIL TRAVEL: One stop shop for Europe wide train tickets and London + Rail ticket packagesOPEN TOP BUS RIDE: Take a tour of London with the Big Bus Company>>> FOR COMPLETE LISTINGS AND FULL DETAILS OF ALL EVENTS, OFFERS, THEATRE BREAKS AND PACKAGES CLICK HERE .HOTELS in LONDON - REVIEWSPlease help us to help others. If you have previously stayed in a hotel in London please take the time to post a quick review to help others choose a suitable hotel. We can only post reviews for London accommodation.WRITE A LONDON HOTEL REVIEW>>>>SEE TOP RATED HOTELS BY CUSTOMER REVIEW>>>>>>HIGHEST RATED HOTEL BY CUSTOMER REVIEW ON THIS WEBSITE<<<WYNDHAM CHELSEA HARBOUR 5 STARAverage Customer Rating: 10/10 (3 reviews) From Central London: 3.1 milesChelsea Harbour, London, SW10 OXGLocation: Chelsea/ Fulham/ WandsworthOverlooks the marina in Chelsea Harbour. 160 suites, all with a two room configuration, made up of 6 Penthouse suites, 132 King bedded suites and 28 twin bedded suites. 2 suites with facilities for disabled.

London Hotels

Milesfaster.co.uk are specialists for hotels in London, UK. Whether you are looking for a broad choice of accommodation, or looking to make a reservation in a particular area, near a London airport, in a particular postcode or close to a landmark we have a section of the website for you. Book online or by phone. If your looking for a cheap hotel why not try the most popular areas for budget class (1, 2, 3 star) accommodation, Bayswater, Paddington, Pimlico/Victoria SW1 and Earls Court. For hotels in the upper to luxury class (4, 5 star) try accommodation around Mayfair W1 and St James's SW1. To get a feel of what to expect in London why not visit our images gallery where you will find pictures not available on any other website.HOTEL NEWSConrad Hotel now becomes the Wyndham Chelsea HarbourGreat Eastern Hotel to become London's first 'Andaz' branded hotel. This is the luxury section of the Hyatt chain.Lanesborough offers free unlimited landline phone calls.Holiday Inn to take over the Marriott Courtyard hotels.Regent Palace Hotel shuts for good.Ramada Heathrow shut for total rebuildPétrus restaurant at The Berkeley Hotel gains second Michelin StarCENTRAL LONDON: CHARING CROSS?Officially the centre of London is taken as Charing Cross Station. However as far as the tourist heart of the capital is concerned its really on the South East side of the central areas. For the purposes of measuring distances on this website we use Piccadilly Circus as the point of reference as we believe in the real world it represents the central tourist heart of London for most people. The distance between the two is actually only 0.4 miles.HOTEL AND TICKET HOLIDAY PACKAGES / SPA BREAKS / GOLF BREAKS / THEME PARK BREAKS / SPECIAL OFFERSHotel and ticket packages available for sporting events, music concerts, cultural breaks, Spa breaks, Golf breaks, theme park breaks and special events.WIMBLEDON TENNIS FORTNIGHT 25TH JUNE > 8TH JULY>>>HOTELS NEAR WIMBLEDON TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPSSPECIAL EVENT: Murder mystery package at a top London Hotel.MUSIC EVENT: Billy Joel live in Birmingham during JulyTHEME PARK BREAK: Alton Towers theme park break hotel and ticket packages.PACKAGES: London Pass: Free admission for London Attractions.EUROPEAN RAIL TRAVEL: One stop shop for Europe wide train tickets and London + Rail ticket packagesOPEN TOP BUS RIDE: Take a tour of London with the Big Bus Company>>> FOR COMPLETE LISTINGS AND FULL DETAILS OF ALL EVENTS, OFFERS, THEATRE BREAKS AND PACKAGES CLICK HERE .HOTELS in LONDON - REVIEWSPlease help us to help others. If you have previously stayed in a hotel in London please take the time to post a quick review to help others choose a suitable hotel. We can only post reviews for London accommodation.WRITE A LONDON HOTEL REVIEW>>>>SEE TOP RATED HOTELS BY CUSTOMER REVIEW>>>>>>HIGHEST RATED HOTEL BY CUSTOMER REVIEW ON THIS WEBSITE<<<WYNDHAM CHELSEA HARBOUR 5 STARAverage Customer Rating: 10/10 (3 reviews) From Central London: 3.1 milesChelsea Harbour, London, SW10 OXGLocation: Chelsea/ Fulham/ WandsworthOverlooks the marina in Chelsea Harbour. 160 suites, all with a two room configuration, made up of 6 Penthouse suites, 132 King bedded suites and 28 twin bedded suites. 2 suites with facilities for disabled.

trading

European shares rallied in early trade on Tuesday after a strong performance on Wall Street overnight, while rising crude oil prices boosted shares of energy companies such as BP and Total.At 0711 GMT The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index rose 0.7 percent to 1,610.41 points, mirroring sharp gains on the U.S. stock market on Monday.Brent crude futures held just shy of ten-month highs above $72 a barrel ahead of a possible drop in the U.S. crude stockpile, boosting BP and Total shares by 0.8 percent."The oil price is triggering ... concern as we are now well above the $70 a barrel level and, granted, could even advance to $74 a barrel and I doubt that can be passed by without being noticed," said Heino Ruland, a strategist at German brokerage Steubing.The biggest percentage gainer was German industrial group MAN, whose shares shot up 3.4 percent following an upgrade from Goldman Sachs, traders said.In other European markets, London's FTSE 100 index rose 0.5 percent, while Frankfurt's DAX added 0.9 percent and Paris' CAC 40 gained 0.8 percent.One of the biggest negative weights on the broader market was German software company SAP, which fell 0.6 percent after admitting "inappropriate downloads" of documents from U.S. rival Oracle by its TomorrowNow unit.Meanwhile shares in French food group Danone were suspended in early trade ahead of an expected statement.Danone shares rose as much as 3.1 percent on Monday as a source familiar with the matter and media reports said the company was looking to sell its biscuit unit.

economics stats

Analysts Recommendations:These analysts would appear to be doing the investment world a great service by giving ratings on different stocks. In fact, these analysts often have hidden agendas that the average investor is not aware of. Ever notice how analysts issue buy recommendations when a stock is at its all time high and sell recommendations when stocks are at their all time low?Money Management:One of the important things to learn about investing is how to manage risk. Anyone who has no respect for risk is on the road to complete financial disaster. You often hear these great stories about the guy who turned a small amount of money into a million dollars. But what you don't hear is that, years down the road, these same people are often wiped out as a result of not respecting the risks that go with investing. Learning how to pick investments that can appreciate in both good and bad times is the key to successful investing. Keep your reward-to-risk ratio at a minimum of 2:1, and preferably 3:1 or higher. In other words, if you are risking 1 point on each trade, you should be making, on average, at least 2 points.NO CRUSHING DEBT!I have seen it a million times, an investor sees a once great company trading at what appears to be a bargain price, so he buys the stock. The company is often very well known, such as At&T, AOL, Kmart, Xerox, Lucent and Tyco, and it may even still be growing both earnings and revenue.But these are companies that are at risk, and they will have to continue to sell off assets just to stay afloat. And don't expect them to get anywhere near the market value in a distress sale. And, even worse, in bankruptcy these assets go for only 20 cents on the dollar. After a bankruptcy, typically all common shareholders receive nothing and ownership of the company goes to the debt holders. The debt holders can decide either to sell off assets to repay debt or to take the company public again.If you can add 1+2=3 then you should be able to read a balance sheet. And it doesn't hurt to check the SEC reports such as the 10-Q. The fact is that no company with zero debt has ever gone bankrupt.The general rule we like to use is to buy stocks that have their interest expense to income ratio at less than 25%.IPO's:Start investing in IPO's after they begin to trade and you will be able to count the days till you are done doing that! IPO's can start trading anywhere from 20% to 400% up on their first day of trading and go straight downhill from there until they bottom out. About 75% of all IPO's are trading below their IPO price one year after trading.Low Priced Stock Myths:Low priced stocks are not better value than high priced stocks, and they don't go up any faster than high priced stocks. Even in these days of free information, there is still a feeling that if you buy a stock that is trading at $5 a share, you have more upside potential than you would with a stock trading at $65 a share. Even crazier is the feeling that by having more shares, you are better off than by only having a few. In fact, it is only the company's market cap, representing the total value of all shares, that is important when it comes to putting a value on a company.Margin Trading is a Fools Game:The key to successful investing is having available cash to choose the next best investing opportunity that comes along. When you get into debt, you begin to lose your options and get trapped into your original investments. Remember that all stocks can crash, and the odds are, if you are high in margin, you will soon have a margin call in which you could lose 75% of your money. As a general rule, buying stock on margin is bad money management. The fact is that 90% of margins players get margined out.OTC Stocks:OTC or penny stocks defy all logic as they move up mostly on hype instead of actual net profits.1. A pump and dump tactic, in which a group of people front-load the stock, then issue a big newsletter, etc. in which they sell into the rally. After the rally, the stock moves back down almost as fast as it went up.2. Massive PR campaigns which are used to bring awareness to an OTC stock. These campaigns work great for a while but by the time the average investor sees the stock the money runs out as the price starts to head downhill again.Don't try to hit the home run on every pick:Everyone wants to be the one to have their portfolio shoot up 200% in a short amount of time. Fact is, there is no way to achieve this without taking on severe risk. Have you ever heard of "The Tortoise and the Hare"? The rabbit has more speed, but the turtle has more determination, stamina, and consistency. The rabbit may get a fast start, but the turtle wins the race.The Urge to Trade:Emotions work against you in investing and it’s very easy to want constant action. The problem is that great picks don't come along daily. Idle periods are a natural part of business. You should never force yourself you to find stock to invest in, because it may go against you at the worst possible time. You need to be emotionally clean and ready to take on a new investment, rather than get caught in a deteriorating position. As a rule: the more you trade, the more risk you take.All Stocks Can Crash:This is a hard lesson to learn for new investors who ride out a single stock only to see it crash later on. As we have seen recently, even great stocks like Microsoft, Cisco, Citigroup and Home Depot have all crashed. While these stocks are likely to hit their highs again in the future, they, just like any other stock, are bound to crash sometime, no matter how great the company is.

Real money virtual estate

Perhaps you've heard of the land baroness named Anshe Chung. No? Maybe that's because Chung only exists in the virtual reality game Second Life. Chung, or rather, her real-life counterpart, Ailin Graef, has gained attention -- and a BusinessWeek cover -- as the first person to reportedly become a real-world millionaire from her virtual-world business.How'd she do it? By buying, developing and selling virtual real estate. While much of her wealth is still tied up in Second Life's currency, Linden dollars, those can be sold for genuine U.S. dollars. Graef reportedly makes upward of $150,000 annually.Second Life is one of several massively multiplayer online role-playing games that are, literally, their own worlds. Julian Dibbell, author of "Play Money: Or How I Quit My Day Job and Made Millions Trading Virtual Loot," estimates the market for virtual items across games such as Second Life and Ultima Online has hit the $1 billion mark. "I think it's safe to say that it's at least $1 billion now," he says.Such numbers -- along with success stories like Graef's -- show there's real scratch to be made from online dirt. But just how much depends on a number of factors, of which only a handful are under your control. Here's how the virtual real estate game is played.

Google ad sense

Google AdSense is a fast and absolutely ridiculously easy way for people with websites of all types and sizes to put up and display relevant Google ads on the content pages of their site and earn money.
Because the Google AdSense ads relate to what your visitors came to your site to read about, or because the ads match up to the interests and characteristics of the kind of people your content attracts, you now have a way to improve your content pages AND make some serious bucks off of them.
Google AdSense is also a way for site owners to provide Google search capability to visitors and to earn even more money by putting Google ads on the search results pages. Google AdSense gives you the ability to earn advertising revenue from every single page on your website—with a minimal investment of your time
So what kind of ads do you have to put up? That's the good part—you don't have to decide. Google does it for you. AdSense always delivers relevant ads that are precisely targeted—on a page-by-page basis—to the content that people find on your site. For example, if you have a page that tells the story of your pet fish, Google will send you ads for that site that are for pet stores, fish food, fish bowls, aquariums…you get the picture.
If you decide you want to add a Google search box to your site, then AdSense will deliver relevant ads targeted to the Google search results pages that your visitors' search request generated.

7 step for a forex trading

Did you know that...hundreds and thousands or forex traders trade in the forex market online every day... and make an absolute killing at it. How do they do it?Well I am going to give you 7 easy tips that will help you make more money with forex trading.Tip #1 Knowledge is Power.When starting out trading forex on the net, it is an absolute must that you understand and become good at the basics first. Once you have a good concept on the basics then you can move forward.For example, one of the major forex influencer's are global news events. An ECB statement is released on Euro interest rates and this will cause a flurry of activity. Most newcomers will get scared and wait until everything calms down. If you hesitate you are likely to miss out on some great trades. You must act when the market is in volatility not when it is in a stand still.Tip #2 IndependenceWhen you are new to Forex you will be trading yourself or have someone else do it for you.Obviously you will make more trading yourself, but you must know these things.If you have someone else doing it, don't interfere what he is doing... he has a strategy that may take some time, let it ride. And if you are doing it yourself... don't get too much information... if you try and get too must information from too many sources this will result in only multiple losses. Take a position, ride with it and then look back and analyze what has happened. Be independent and stand strong.Tip #3 Don't Get Over-ConfidentTake tiny margins. It is one of the biggest advantages in trading forex. It allows you to trade amounts far larger than the total of what you have deposited.But don't get over confident with this... some rookies get greedy and this destroys many traders. Only increase depending on your experience and success.Tip #4 Trade When It's News TimeMost really big trade occur around news time. Trading volume is high and the moves are noteworthy.This means there is no better time to trade than when the news is released. This is when the big guns adjust their positions and prices change resulting in a serious currency flow.Tip #5 Exiting TradesIf you place a trade and it's not working out for you, get the hell out of there. Don't multiply your mistake by staying in for hopes sake for a reversal. That is very unlikely to happen. And on the other side if you are winning a trade, don't pull back because of the stress levels. You must learn to tolerate the stress, it is natural to trading, and you must get used to it.Tip #6 Don't be smartThe most successful traders keep their trading basic. They don't analyze all day or research historical trends and track web logs and their results are excellent. They spend their time in the stress zone not in the library.Tip #7 Build Your Confidence With ExperienceIf you lose money early in your trading career it's very difficult to regain it; the trick is not to go off half-loaded; learn the business before you trade. Knowledge is power when coming to trading.Forex is a game of knowledge... you must know about the business. That is why I recommend you check out the soon to be released groundbreaking forex trading system at ForexAim.com and you will flourish in forex trading.

ING Bank

In the international expansion of ING Bank, Romania was considered to be one of the emerging markets with great potential, being the second largest country in Central Europe. Entering on this market was planned and concluded long before other major foreign investors were prepared to step in.The history in Romania began in October 1994, when ING started its banking operations, being the first foreign bank to open a full service branch office after 1989.Since then, the branch in Bucuresti has exceeded all expectations in terms of client acquisition, introduction of services and growth of business. The initial staff of 14 has increased to more than 270 professionals, forex . The client base numbers presently close to 8,000 corporate accounts, including 90% of the multinationals operating on the market as well as important joint ventures and the majority of the large domestic companies with cross-border activities. Operationally, the number of client payments has grown from 190 per month to almost 130,000 in the second part of 1999. ING Bank Romania focuses on providing reliable, efficient and flexible services in an imperfect, often difficult market, to its targeted client base.The first expansion of the headquarters of ING Bank Romania occurred one year after the commencement of operations. Because the number of clients had increased continuously, the bank expanded its investments to support this rapid growth. As a result of further developments, forex , ING Bank Romania moved in 1997 into a totally renovated building, a modern office, built on firm foundations which has withstood the test of time.Success in the Romanian market, achieving the recognition of both friends and competitors, is due to the continuous adjustment to local market needs, to the introduction of new services to meet clients expectations and by never accepting concessions to quality.Always pioneeringING Bank was the first bank to introduce electronic banking services in Romania. One year later, electronic banking was awarded by the specialised magazine 'Piata Financiara' as the Best Banking Product in Romania. Over 700 companies are using these services which provide permanent information access, detailed daily statements, posted transactions, value-dated balance, current balance and down-loading of data to other systems.ING Bank was also the first bank to be licensed as a custodian bank by the National Securities Commission. A survey done by Global Financial Institutions concluded that ING Bank Bucuresti is the largest custodian in Romania. Recently, forex , ING was nominated by the National Company for Clearing, Settlement and Depository for Security as the first custodian bank in Romania with a market share of 40 %.Local involvementING Bank participates with its international experience and expertise in the development of the emerging markets they work in, by setting professional standards and a strong commitment. The commitment to the Romanian market is confirmed by ING 's involvement in: two syndicated loan for National Bank of Romania, Eurobond issues by the NBR and Ministry of Finance, the first syndicated loan for RENEL, bridge loans for SNP Petrom and Romtelecom, a syndicated loan and the largest cross-border private placement in Romania in 1999 for MobilRom, an export finance loan for Romtelecom, several club deals for NBR as biggest leader, merger and privatisation of ALRO/ Alprom, which closed in the 4th quarter of 1999.

New F430 Spider

The latest in Ferrari's long line of V8-engined convertible sports cars, the F430 Spider offers a unique combination of extreme performance and open-air motoring. Equipped with the same competition-inspired 4.3-liter flat crank power unit as the F430 coupé, the Spider provides a true 193 mph top speed along with formidable acceleration, covering the 0-60 mph sprint in just 3.9 seconds.F1-derived aerodynamics pay considerable dividends in achieving these performance figures. The track continues to be Ferrari's favored test bed for research and development. The Spider's sinuous lines have been honed to reduce drag while generating no less than 572lbs of down force at 186 mph.Significant improvements have also been wrought in the chassis department, with a 10 percent increase in torsional rigidity and a five percent improvement in beam strength over the 360 Spider. Handling and road holding are consequently of the highest standard. The innovative electronic differential and F1 transmission are instrumental in transferring the V8's 483bhp (490 bhp DIN) to the road.