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German business confidence probably rose to the highest in seven months in February as progress in taming Europe

Technology analyst John Kinnucan was arrested Friday on allegations of trading on information about many of the nation’s leading tech companies, resulting in illicit gains of nearly $110 million.

Kinnucan faces both criminal and civil charges. He was arrested at his Oregon home and is awaiting transfer to New York, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York, which is conducting an ongoing probe into insider trading. The Southern District includes the nation’s major stock exchanges and is taking the lead on insider trading probes nationwide.

In January, seven hedge fund managers and investment professionals were indicted in New York, charged with sharing insider information when making trades. Last year, Raj Rajaratnam, founder of the Galleon Group hedge fund, was found guilty and sentenced to 11 years in prison and fined a record $92.8 million. The SEC alleges the Galleon case resulted in $91 million in illicit gains, less than in Kinnucan’s case.

The Securities and Exchange Commission alleges that Kinnucan befriended and rewarded insiders at various technology companies, including Apple (, Fortune 500), Dell (, Fortune 500), Fairchild Semiconductor (), Marvell Technology (), and Western Digital (, Fortune 500), in order to gain information, which the SEC claims he then sold to clients, primarily portfolio managers and analysts at prominent hedge funds and investment advisers.

"The information he obtained and passed along to clients was not the result of research. It was inside information Kinnucan bought from company insiders," said Janice Fedarcyk, FBI assistant director-in-charge. "That kind of information beats research every time. The only problem is it isn’t legal."

In late 2010, Kinnucan took the unusual step of announcing on TV and in an e-mail to clients that he had been contacted by FBI agents, whom he mocked as "fresh-faced eager beavers."

He said he was approached at the end of October 2010 and asked to wear a wire in an insider-trading investigation targeting certain hedge funds. He shut down his Portland, Ore.-based firm, Broadband Research Corp., soon after that disclosure. Kinnucan and members of his former firm could not be reached for comment Friday.

The U.S. Attorney’s office and the SEC would not comment on Kinnucan’s actions in 2010. 

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A senior U.N. nuclear expert says his team is leaving for Tehran with hopes that Iranian officials will agree to talk about suspicions that the Islamic Republic has worked _ or is working _ on a clandestine atomic arms program.

Herman Nackaerts of the International Atomic Energy Agency is heading a group of experts focusing on the allegations, which Iran continues to deny.

Nackaerts told reporters Sunday before boarding a flight to Tehran “the highest priority remains of course the possible military dimensions of Iran’s nuclear program.”

The trip is the second one in less than a month as the IAEA attempts to dent nearly four years of Iranian refusal to cooperate with its probe. IAEA experts came back from their last visit in late January with no concrete results.

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Builders broke ground on more homes than forecast in January, helped by warmer weather and adding to signs the U.S. residential real estate market is stabilizing.

Starts rose 1.5 percent to a 699,000 annual rate from December

Five staff at Britain’s largest selling tabloid The Sun were arrested Saturday along with three other people over alleged bribes paid to police and defense officials, detectives and the newspaper’s parent company said.

News. Corp said in a statement that police had searched the homes and offices of the five members of staff at the tabloid, long regarded regarded as the jewel in the crown of Rupert Murdoch’s British media empire.

A serving police officer, a female employee at the Ministry of Defense and a 36-year-old member of the armed forces were also arrested in an early morning swoop.

London’s Metropolitan Police said all eight people are being questioned, and confirmed they were detained following information provided to detectives by the management standards committee of News Corp.

The committee “will continue to ensure that all appropriate steps are taken to protect legitimate journalistic privilege and sources, private or personal information and legal privilege,” News Corp. said in a statement.

Police said their investigation relates to alleged corrupt payments made to police officers and other officials by journalists. It is part of a series of police investigations sparked by Britain’s tabloid phone hacking scandal.

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U.K. house prices fell to their lowest level in six months in January as concern increased about the outlook for the economy and the euro-area debt crisis, Acadametrics Ltd. and LSL Property Services Plc said.

The average price of a home in England and Wales fell 0.2 percent from December to 218,992 pounds ($346,840), the groups said in an e-mailed report in London. From a year earlier values fell 1.4 percent, the quickest pace since September.

German exports fell four times more than economists forecast in December as the sovereign debt crisis damped economic growth across the euro region.

Exports, adjusted for work days and seasonal changes, slumped 4.3 percent from November, when they rose 2.6 percent, the Federal Statistics Office in Wiesbaden said today. Economists forecast a decline of 1 percent, according to the median of 17 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey. Imports dropped 3.9 percent.

While the German economy probably shrank 0.25 percent in the final three months of last year, data this year suggest it may avoid recession, which is commonly defined as two consecutive quarterly contractions. Business sentiment jumped to a five-month high in January and factory orders gained 1.7 percent in December, driven by demand from outside the 17-nation euro area.

Greece’s coalition government on Monday caved in to demands to cut civil service jobs, announcing 15,000 positions would go this year, amid mounting international pressure to agree on austerity measures needed to secure major new debt agreements.

The announcement signals a shift in Greece’s policy, as state jobs have so far been protected during the country’s acute financial crisis, which started about two years ago. Public Sector Reform Minister Dimitris Reppas said the job cuts would be carried out under a new law that allows such firings.

Unions have called a 24-hour general strike for Tuesday, in response to the new austerity measures, while about 4,000 protesters braved torrential rain late Monday to join protest rallies organized in central Athens by left-wing opposition parties.

Greece is racing to push through painful reforms and clinch a euro130 billion ($170 billion) bailout deal from its European partners and the International Monetary Fund to avoid a March default on its bond payments.

Debt-ridden Greece has been kept solvent since May 2010 by payments from a euro110 billion ($145 billion) international rescue loan package. When it became clear the money would not be enough, a second bailout was decided last October.

Its implementation depends on the austerity measures but also on separate talks with banks and other private bondholders to forgive euro100 billion ($131.6 billion) in Greek debt, in exchange for a cash payment and new bonds worth 50 per cent less than the original face value, longer repayment terms and a cut in the interest rate to be paid on the bonds. Greek government officials say they expect private investors to take an overall cut of up to 70 percent on the value of their bonds.

But delays in negotiations with rescue creditors pushed a crucial meeting of coalition party leaders back by one day to Tuesday.

“We are opposed to indiscriminate firings,” Reppas said. “The work force reduction is strictly connected with the restructuring of services and organizations at each ministry.”

Officials at the Public Sector Reform Ministry gave no details of the new plan, or say how many of the job cuts would be compulsory.

The government has promised to reduce the 750,000-strong broader public sector by 150,000 by the end of 2015, but has so far insisted it could reach that target through staff attrition.

Greece’s coalition party leaders pushed back a key meeting by a day till Tuesday, due to the ongoing negotiations with EU-IMF debt inspectors who were to hold a new round of talks later Monday.

They have already agreed to cut 2012 spending by 1.5 percent of gross domestic product _ about euro3.3 billion ($4.3 billion) _ improve competitiveness by slashing wages and non-wage costs, and re-capitalize banks without nationalizing them.

Creditors are also demanding spending cuts in defense, health and social security, a cut in the minimum wage, as well as the civil service layoffs, as European pressure increased on Greece to make more concessions.

European Commission spokesman Amadeu Altafaj Tardio said Greece is already “beyond the deadline” to end the talks.

After talks in Paris with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said there can be no bailout deal unless Athens implements creditors’ proposals.

“(The proposals) are on the table,” she said. “And time is pressing. Therefore something has to happen quickly.”

“Time is pressing and for the entire eurozone is much at stake,” Merkel added.

Greece is in its fifth year of recession, while unemployment has hit record highs of about 19 percent _ following a spate of austerity measures in return for the rescue loans, that included significant cuts in pensions and salaries coupled with repeated tax hikes and an increase in retirement ages.

“The current policy of austerity … is turning workers into pariahs, jobless people and pensioners into paupers and deprives our youth of any hope,” a statement from the servants’ union ADEDY said. “This policy has already pushed Greeks beyond their limits and must be stopped at any cost.”

Yiannis Panagopoulos, leader of Greece’s largest union, the GSEE, said the creditors’ demands were certain to lead to more hardship.

“What is going on is not a negotiation,” he said. “It’s blunt, cynical blackmail targeting an entire people.”

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Optimism over upcoming U.S. jobs figures helped stocks and the euro to rally on Friday despite further evidence that the 17-nation eurozone is heading for recession.

Following a run of fairly strong U.S. economic data, investors are increasingly confident that the world’s largest economy is over a soft patch from last summer, helping to offset the global economic impact wrought by Europe’s ongoing debt crisis.

Figures released Friday provided further evidence that the eurozone is heading for a recession. Eurostat, the EU’s statistics office, said retail sales dropped 0.4 percent during the month, in contrast to expectations for an increase of the same amount.

The December data reinforced expectations that the eurozone contracted during the fourth quarter of the year. Eurostat is due to publish its first estimate for the quarter on Feb. 15.

The highlight of the day in the markets will be the monthly U.S. nonfarm payrolls data. Expectations are that the U.S. economy generated around 150,000 jobs during January. Though that is unspectacular for an economy recovering from its worst recession since World War II, the amount of jobs being created is up from levels seen just a few months ago.

“Volatility is likely to remain low until these figures are out, with traders opting to sit and await news rather than heavily commit themselves,” said David Jones, chief market strategist at IG Index.

In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was up 0.5 percent at 5,823 while Germany’s DAX rose 0.4 percent to 6,682. The CAC-40 in France was 0.5 percent higher at 3,394.

Wall Street was also poised for a solid opening, though how it actually performs will hinge on the payrolls data, which are released an hour before the bell free credit score. Dow futures and the S&P 500 futures were both up 0.2 percent.

The euro was also garnering support alongside stocks _ when appetite for risk is elevated, the euro often finds favour. It was trading 0.3 percent higher at $1.3177 despite the retail sales disappointment.

The focus on the U.S. has proved a welcome diversion for some traders from monitoring the daily grind of Europe’s debt crisis, where much hinges on whether Greece can secure a deal with its private creditors, as is anticipated. A deal is expected soon, though that has been the official line for a few weeks.

Earlier in Asia, the picture was mixed.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index fell 0.5 percent to close at 8,831.93 but Hong Kong’s Hang Seng ended marginally higher at 20,756.98.

Mainland Chinese shares extended gains fueled by news of fresh support for the farming and small-business sectors, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rising 0.8 percent to 2,330.41 while the Shenzhen Composite Index added 1.5 percent to 878.29.

Oil markets were also relatively subdued. Benchmark oil for March delivery was up 40 cents to $96.76 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

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Pamela Sampson in Bangkok contributed to this report.

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Republican senators and Gov. Jay Nixon have sparred regularly the last few years about how to grow Missouri’s economy. Now they’re sparring over who to put in charge of the effort.

Senate leaders are poised this week to sink Nixon’s nomination of St. Louis attorney Jason Hall to lead the Department of Economic Development, claiming the 36-year-old lacks the experience necessary for the job. The Senate committee that approves nominations declined to take up Hall’s on Wednesday. And if they don’t by week’s end, not only will his nomination expire, but Hall will be barred for life from holding the post.

Senate President Pro Tem Robert Mayer, R-Dexter, said Wednesday he has no plans to approve Hall this week, and people familiar with the talks said his nomination is basically dead.

But there was no official word from Nixon’s office, which put out a statement saying Hall is “highly qualified.” Hall himself did not return messages seeking comment.

The son of a Granite City steelworker and founder of a group for gay lawyers in St. Louis, Hall was an attorney at Bryan Cave before Nixon tapped him to lead the quasi-governmental Missouri Technology Corp. in 2009. In December, Nixon picked Hall to replace outgoing DED director David Kerr, calling him “exactly the type of bright, energetic leader we need to help create jobs and move Missouri’s economy forward.”

But Hall’s nomination came on the eve of an election year, on the heels of a legislative special session where lawmakers couldn’t agree on job-creation tools, and amid probes into DED’s handling of a sweetener plant deal that collapsed in Moberly last fall.

All those factors likely played a role in Senate opposition to Hall, said Dan Mehan, president of the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

“This appointment became that much more critical and focused on,” Mehan said. “It was going to get attention because there is this opinion out there, rightly or wrongly, that [DED] needs to be fixed.”

Mehan is one of several business leaders who’ve said they support Hall’s nomination. He called Hall well-qualified, and pointed out that Missouri has had many officials - from both parties - who served in top roles while in their 30’s.

“[Hall’s] a quality guy and would be a great benefit to the state,” Mehan said.

Mayer sees it differently. Talking to reporters in Jefferson City today, he noted the nominee has “very little experience in private industry or business.”

“Most senators believe he’s a bright, articulate young man,” Mayer said. “But at this stage in his life, I don’t think he’s ready to take on the position of the Department of Economic Development.”

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