NASA Launches Facebook Game to Test Space Program Knowledge (Mashable)

How much do you know about the NASA space program, Earthling? [More from Mashable: Facebook Post Seals Guinness World Record] NASA has launched a multi-player Facebook game to test just that. Space Race Blastoff poses a series of surprisingly tough questions — for example, who launched the first liquid-fueled rocket?

Read the rest here:

How much do you know about the NASA space program, Earthling?

[More from Mashable: Facebook Post Seals Guinness World Record]

NASA has launched a multi-player Facebook game to test just that. Space Race Blastoff poses a series of surprisingly tough questions — for example, who launched the first liquid-fueled rocket? — that cover a range of space-related topics including history, technology and science. There’s even a pop culture category.

Users play the game by choosing an avatar then answering a series of 10 multiple-choice questions. They can compete with other players or just play solo. Players can also earn additional points if they are able to correctly answer bonus questions following the initial 10-question round.

[More from Mashable: Facebook Timeline and Users: Not Quite a Love Affair [POLL RESULTS]]

NASA released the game through Facebook to leverage the social network’s massive audience and make the game something players could enjoy with friends.

“Space Race Blastoff opens NASA’s history and research to a wide new audience of people accustomed to using social media,” David Weaver, NASA’s associate administrator for communications, said in a press release. “Space experts and novices will learn new things about how exploration continues to impact our world.”

Space Race Blastoff is NASA’s first multi-player online game, but the agency has a history of adeptly using social media to connect with the public. In September, NASA announced plans to invite 150 of its Twitter followers to a “tweetup” event at a live spacecraft launch. A number of astronauts have active Twitter accounts as well; Ron Garan, or Astro_Ron, even has more than 88,000 followers.

Will you play Space Race Blastoff? Why or why not? Let us know in the comments.

This story originally published on Mashable here.

WePay: The Online Payment Start-Up Behind Occupy Wall Street

WePay co-founders Rich Aberman and Bill Clerico in their start-up’s Palo Alto headquarters. (Photo by Eric Millette for Forbes) In early September, start-up WePay noticed an unusual new account on its online payments site. Called “September 17 Event”, the account’s webpage said it was raising funds to buy food for an upcoming “ Wall Street occupation event” and assured contributors “any amount…would be most appreciated.” WePay emailed the account’s creator, who explained crowds were planning to convene on Wall Street to protest corporate greed — and would need sandwiches to eat

See the original post here:

In early September, start-up WePay noticed an unusual new account on its online payments site. Called “September 17 Event”, the account’s webpage said it was raising funds to buy food for an upcoming “Wall Street occupation event” and assured contributors “any amount…would be most appreciated.”

WePay emailed the account’s creator, who explained crowds were planning to convene on Wall Street to protest corporate greed — and would need sandwiches to eat. Satisfied no laws were being broken, WePay left the account open.

The Sept. 17 gathering evolved into the Occupy Wall Street movement, which has spread from New York to California, Oregon and beyond. Today, there are more than 700 Occupy-related accounts collecting money on WePay. The company has routed more than $725,000, pledged via credit cards and checks, to the movement’s WePay account. (Funds can be withdrawn from there to a bank account.)

Organizers say other payment processors, such as PayPal, seemed too aligned with the corporations they were fighting and had previously frozen accounts associated with social justice campaigns. (WePay says PayPal’s December tussle with humor blog Regretsy over charity donations has further reinforced WePay’s positive image as an “anti-PayPal”.)

“WePay seemed like the perfect solution,” says Chuck Kaufman of the Alliance for Global Justice, a D.C.-based nonprofit that acts as Occupy Wall Street’s fiscal sponsor.

The payoff, in processing fees, has been modest for WePay: about $26,000, as estimated by Forbes. The three-year-old company is more enthusiastic about the exposure it has received as the movement’s favored donation platform. The main Occupy Wall Street site links to WePay and the company is frequently mentioned in media accounts of the movement.

WePay Chief Operating Officer Rich Aberman calls the attention a “huge boon” because publicity tends to create a positive viral loop: People hear about a campaign, come to the site to donate, spread the word to others and, sometimes, start their own accounts.

Buoyed by partnerships with Facebook and a loyal customer base of small organizations, fundraisers and student clubs, WePay was doing pretty well before Occupy Wall Street. Its compounded monthly growth since launch is 30% with recent monthly growth rates north of 70%. The company says it exited 2011 with revenues at a multi-million dollar run rate. Revenue is expected to multiply eight-fold in 2012.

WePay began as a smarter way to manage group purchases. Aberman and Bill Clerico, now WePay’s chief executive, founded the startup in 2008, a year after graduating from Boston College. Both had been frustrated by the hassle involved in collecting money from friends for events like bachelor parties and vacations.

The two spent a year refining their idea in a low-rent, suburban Massachusetts apartment. In the summer of 2009, after being accepted into the prestigious Y Combinator startup incubation program, they moved to Silicon Valley.

ETF Spotlight: U.S. Preferred Stock

ETF spotlight on iShares S&P U.S.

Continue reading here:

ETF spotlight on iShares S&P U.S. Preferred Stock (NYSEArca: PFF – News ) , part of an ongoing series.

Assets : $7.7 billion.

Objective : The iShares S&P U.S. Preferred Stock Fund tries to reflect the performance of the S&P Preferred Stock Index, which includes a selected group of preferred stocks listed on various exchanges, including the NYSE and Nasdaq. [Preferred Stock ETFs: High Yields, Capital Appreciation]

Holdings : Top holdings include: General Mltrs Co. 2.6%, HSBC Holdings 2.5%, Barclays Bank 1.7%, Wells Fargo 1.5% and Citigroup Cap XIII 1.5%.

What You Should Know :

• BlackRock ’s iShares ETF division sponsors the fund.
• PFF has an expense ratio of 0.48%.
• The fund has 242 holdings and the top ten holdings make up 16.9% of the portfolio.
• Sector allocations include: diversified financials 46.6%, banks 25.4%, insurance 6.8%, real estate 5.1%, capital goods 3.2%, automobile 3.2%, utilities 2.8%, telecom 2.0%, media 1.5%, energy 0.9% and other 2.6%.
• It should be noted that financial sector picks make up about 80% of the fund.
• PFF has a 12-month yield of 6.99%.
• The fund is up 6.8% over the past month, up 2.6% over the last three months and up 4.2% over the last year.
• The ETF is 2.0% above its 200-day exponential moving average.
• Preferred stocks act like a hybrid of stocks and bonds – they make regular income payments, have no voting rights, are senior to common stocks and have priority over common stocks in dividends payouts.
• “New regulations will dramatically change the preferred-stock industry,” according to Timothy Strauts, Morningstar analyst. “When the new rules take effect in 2013, It is expected that most banks will redeem their current issues of trust preferred stock.”
• “This has large implications for preferreds because the expectation of redemption in less then two years will help support prices in the market today,” Strauts added.

The Latest News :

• Financial sector stocks have been among the best performers in January. [ ‘January Barometer’ Bodes Well for Stock ETFs ]
• Financial stocks were up Tuesday after Eurozone leaders agreed on a new pact late Monday to promote fiscal responsibility across the region, report Sue Chang and Greg Morcroft for MarketWatch .
• Investors are now focusing on bank’s good quarterly earnings and stronger loan growth numbers.

iShares S&P U.S. Preferred Stock

For past stories in this series, visit our ETF Spotlight category .

Max Chen contributed to this article.

Benetton Group SPA (BNGPY: OTC Link) | Benetton Group Board of Directors reviews Preliminary 2011 results

Jan 31, 2012 OTC Disclosure & News Service Treviso, Italy – BENETTON GROUP BOARD OF DIRECTORS REVIEWS PRELIMINARY 2011 RESULTS   ·          Consolidated Revenues in line with previous year: € 2,031 million (-0.4% currency neutral) ·          Further increase in the importance of emerging and high growth markets (+10% currency neutral), which reached 26% of the total ·          Net Income about € 70 million, due to large cost reductions and in the context of a significant increase in raw material prices ·          Net Financial Position at Dec. 31, 2011: € 550 million (€ 486 million at Dec. 31, 2010)   Ponzano, January 31, 2012 , at 02.45 p.m.

Originally posted here:
Benetton Group SPA (BNGPY: OTC Link) | Benetton Group Board of Directors reviews Preliminary 2011 results

China Education Resources, Inc. (CHNUF: OTC Link) | China Education Resources Inc. Update

Jan 31, 2012 OTC Disclosure & News Service Vancouver, BC, Canada – VANCOUVER, Canada (January 31,2012) – China Education Resources, Inc. (“CER”) (TSXV: CHN) (OTCQX:CHNUF), a leading technology provider of online learning, training courses, and tools for teachers, students and education professionals in China, is pleased to provide an update to the shareholders: CER has been selected by the education authority of Shanxi Province , China to provide education materials and books to school libraries in the province.

Read the rest here:
China Education Resources, Inc. (CHNUF: OTC Link) | China Education Resources Inc. Update

"Stock Alerts" Kick Off 2012 With Six Consecutive 100% Profitable Trades

SANTA CLARA, CA–(Marketwire -01/31/12)- The BullTrade.com ” Stock Alert ” service has set the benchmark for winning stock trades .

Read the rest here:

SANTA CLARA, CA–(Marketwire -01/31/12)- The BullTrade.com “Stock Alert” service has set the benchmark for winning stock trades. Since January 2003, 96% of all closed-out trades have ended in gains, and some of them monsters. Recently, since the start of the year, six trades have been closed out and all of them profitably. The largest gain was a quick 17.6% in shares of VirnetX Holdings early in January. Other gains over the past year have exceeded 30%+ while most others, like Apple Computer and Green Mountain Coffee, have averaged 8-12%. These “Stock Alerts” are sent prior to the market open so any active trader can easily benefit. One subscriber commented, “I followed your buy recommendation on Cemex and took a 26% profit the following day. Your picks have been fantastic. I wish I found you guys earlier!”

Other stocks that have been profiled or recommended in the past include Sina (NASDAQ: SINA – News), Potash (NYSE: POT – News), Wynn Resorts, Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX – News) and SodaStream (NASDAQ: SODA – News). To find out more or to see the performance history, please visit the web site at http://www.bulltrade.com

To sign up for the Special Membership (“Stock Alerts”), please visit the secure web site at https://www.bulltrade.com/signup.aspx. Special Members receive Stock Alerts, both via email and on the web site, as well as the daily market newsletter (Regular Membership).

About BullTrade.com:
BullTrade.com (www.bulltrade.com) provides investors with a daily newsletter and financial forum. The BullTrade newsletter is ideal for both beginner and experienced investors, and is available for a very affordable $29.99 per month. The Special Membership featured above includes the regular newsletter as well as “Stock Alerts” for $100 per month. BullTrade Corp. is not a registered broker dealer or a registered investment adviser. No information accessed through the BullTrade Web site constitutes a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any security. Please view the disclaimer at http://www.bulltrade.com/legal.aspx.

What Will A Facebook IPO Mean For ETFs?

The rumors have been swirling for years: Facebook will IPO next month, next quarter, next year. But each time it seems that investors are disappointed with no such event. However, 2012 may finally see the long-awaited IPO from the social networking giant

Continued here:

The rumors have been swirling for years: Facebook will IPO next month, next quarter, next year. But each time it seems that investors are disappointed with no such event. However, 2012 may finally see the long-awaited IPO from the social networking giant. Before you roll your eyes and click out of the page, consider some new developments that make this event very likely. Other than unnamed sources confirming an IPO in early to mid 2012, the company’s private stock has been frozen for the past three days, a move that typically coincides with a filing to go public in the near future. ”Facebook and companies who do this don’t want to expose themselves to lawsuits related to the fact that some people had it before others and were able to trade on it,” Sam Hamadeh, CEO of private company research firm PrivCo, told Bloomberg. “The best way to protect yourself is to have no one able to trade” [see also 12 High-Yielding Commodities For 2012].

Facebook Public?

Facebook Founder Mark ZuckerbergIt should be noted that Facebook has halted its shares before in order to update its list of shareholders, but with all of the rumors swirling, it appears that this time may be the real deal. Early reports put the company as a member of the tech-heavy Nasdaq along with a hefty valuation topping $100 billion. That would mark the largest IPO in history. It should come as no surprise however, given the massive global reach that the company has. The social network is available in multiple countries, multiple languages, and was home to over 800 million active users as of September of 2011. Alexa, a website which ranks the web based on pageviews, users, and other metrics, notes that Facebook is the second most popular website in the world, with only Google topping the social network [see also The 10 Most Profitable ETFs In The World].

It was estimated that the firm raked in over $4.3 billion in revenues for last year and looks to extend those gains to investors if it were to launch and IPO in the coming weeks. According to multiple sources, the IPO was due to launch between April and June of this year, but that time frame has now been narrowed down to May. Note however, that with this predicted window, the filing would need to come relatively soon, as it can take anywhere from three to four months for the SEC to review the documents and approve the order.

With the world’s largest IPO tentatively set to hit markets, it will certainly have a major affect on some popular favorite ETFs. But ETFs will also offer a way to make a play on Facebook as they will surely include the company if it does indeed go public. After seeing some of the hefty volatility that newcomers like Groupon and Zynga endured, many investors may feel more comfortable with a diversified play utilizing an ETP. Below, we outline three ETFs that could be shaken up by this potential IPO [see also The Ten Commandments of Commodity Investing].

PowerShares QQQ (QQQ)

This ETF replicates an index that includes the 100 largest nonfinancial components of the Nasdaq. With over $26 billion in assets and an ADV topping 35 million, QQQ is the seventh largest ETF in the world and ranks fifth by daily volume. With QQQ utilizing a cap weighting structure, Facebook could easily make its way into the top ten holdings if the company lists on the Nasdaq, as the predicted $100 billion+ valuation will put it above several of QQQ’s largest allocations. Note that buying into QQQ prior to the IPO could make for a safer way to play what will likely be a volatile debut for Facebook [see also ETFs: The $10 Billion Club].

Social Media Index ETF (SOCL)

This one is a no-brainer. Tracking an index that measures the equity performance of the largest and most liquid companies involved in the social media industry, Facebook will surely get a large representation in this ETF. Considering that Google is the only top holding (ranked in 7th place) with more than $100 billion in market cap, it would not be surprising to see Facebook overtake the number one holding. While it may not be bigger than Google on debut, it is a pure social media site, and will dwarf the other holdings of this young ETF [see also High Tech ETFdb Portfolio].

Nasdaq Composite Index Tracking Stock (ONEQ)

ONEQ tracks the NASDAQ Composite Index, which measures all NASDAQ domestic and international based common type stocks listed on The Nasdaq Stock Market. This yields top holdings like Apple, Microsoft, Google, and a number of others. While Facebook is not big enough to take the top slot of this fund, it would likely secure a spot in the top ten, and hold a significant weight for the overall product.

Disclosure: Photo courtesy of Elaine and Priscilla Chan. No positions at time of writing.

Related Posts:

Chaikin Introduces Android Stock App

PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 31, 2012 /PRNewswire/ – Chaikin Stock Research, creator of a suite of stock tools that empower individuals to invest like the pros, today announces the launch of its popular stock market app for Android smart phones. The Chaikin Power Tools app, which can be downloaded for free from the Android Marketplace, has much of the functionality of the popular Chaikin Power Tools iPhone app, which currently has > 17,000 users analyzing and trading stocks from their iPhone.

See more here:

PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 31, 2012 /PRNewswire/ – Chaikin Stock Research, creator of a suite of stock tools that empower individuals to invest like the pros, today announces the launch of its popular stock market app for Android smart phones. The Chaikin Power Tools app, which can be downloaded for free from the Android Marketplace, has much of the functionality of the popular Chaikin Power Tools iPhone app, which currently has >17,000 users analyzing and trading stocks from their iPhone.

The centerpiece of both apps is the Chaikin Power Gauge Rating, an unbiased 20-factor model that analyzes complex financial information about a stock and presents it in a simple green or red display so investors can quickly identify the winners and avoid the losers. Insights that would take days to research and analyze are available in an instant. The Power Gauge is an essential tool for novice to experienced investors, looking for reliable and actionable stock analysis.

“Investing in the stock market has reached a new level with the traditional investor/broker relationship being replaced by Internet and mobile trading. More and more, self-directed investors need access to tools previously available only to professionals,” said Marc Chaikin, CEO of Chaikin Stock Research. “Our Android stock app provides just that — it is a powerful tool for investors who are looking for simple, yet accurate and actionable stock research, based on real market conditions. We now offer our tools to mobile users on the two most popular platforms globally — Android and iOS.”

Features of Chaikin Power Tools Android app include:

• Create a watchlist of up to 20 stocks — prices are updated by the minute
• Intraday and six-month charts, which include the Chaikin Money Flow Indicator and historical Chaikin Power Gauge Ratings
• Fundamental data
• Chaikin Power Gauge rating for each stock on your watchlist so you can quickly identify the winners and losers in your portfolio
• Intuitive green/red displays, which makes stock analysis fast and easy

The Chaikin Power Gauge is based on a 20-factor stock rating model which has been back tested and proven successful at identifying stocks which will out- or under-perform the market. The model was created by Marc Chaikin, a forty year Wall Street veteran and recognized expert in developing computerized stock selection models for professional money managers and individual investors.

Chaikin Power Tools app for Android smart phones is available as a free download in the Android Marketplace: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.ChaikinPowerTools. At launch the app is supported on devices with a screen size of 480 x 800. Users with large, new HD screens will not be able to download the app in the Android Marketplace during the first several weeks after launch. OS 2.2+ is supported.

In addition, Chaikin Power Tools apps are available as free downloads for iPhone, desktop widget or Web widget. Chaikin Power Gauge Reports are available on a subscription basis. All products are available from http://www.chaikinpowertools.com.

About Marc Chaikin

After more than forty years on Wall Street, Marc Chaikin founded Chaikin Stock Research in 2009 to level the playing field by delivering professional-quality stock tools to self-directed investors so they, too, can invest with the same edge as the pros.

A recognized expert in developing computerized stock selection models for professional money managers, as well as for individual investors, Marc was recently named one of the “Top Wall Street Experts and Opinion Leaders” by WallStreetEconomists.org and is a regular guest on CNBC’s “The Closing Bell” with Maria Bartiromo and Bill Griffeth.

He pioneered and developed the first real-time analytics workstation for portfolio managers and stock traders when he co-founded Bomar Securities in 1989. In 1992, Bomar was acquired by the Instinet subsidiary of Reuters. The proprietary Bomar analytics are now part of Thomson Reuters’ institutional workstation.

Marc Chaikin also created several technical indicators whose predictive value has made them de facto standards in most technical analysis software packages. He is best known for the Chaikin Money Flow Indicator and Chaikin Persistency of Money Flow, which is the basis of Investor’s Business Daily’s Accumulation/Distribution (Acc/Dis™) Rating.

Contact:
Jennifer Fugel
845-657-4202
Jennifer@chaikinpowertools.com

This press release was issued through eReleases(R).  For more information, visit eReleases Press Release Distribution at http://www.ereleases.com.

Will the Facebook IPO Puff Up the US Dollar?

Investors’ hearts are a-flutter about the announcement of Facebook’s IPO, but what does it mean for the US Dollar? Investors are expecting Facebook, a wildly popular social network, to file papers this week for an initial public offering that will value the company at between $75 and $100 billion.

See the rest here:

Investors’ hearts are a-flutter about the announcement of Facebook’s IPO, but what does it mean for the US Dollar?

Investors are expecting Facebook, a wildly popular social network, to file papers this week for an initial public offering that will value the company at between $75 and $100 billion. The impending IPO, which is expected to raise $10 billion, will be the biggest Internet IPO ever and the fourth largest IPO in U.S. history. The company is expected to earn about $3.8 billion in 2011 full-year revenue with about $1.5 billion in operating profits.

Aside from the funds that the IPO will bring in to the company, Facebook’s chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, focused on the job opportunities and accompanying revenue creation that will be generated when the social network goes public. According to Sandberg, the company already employs more than 3000 people and has created more than 450,000 jobs in Europe and the U.S.

With a history of acquiring companies that it believes could be complementary to its core business, investing in new developments and vast overseas expansion, many investors believe that the additional cash raised by Facebook could flow into other sectors such as advertising and marketing. The potential for job creation could help boost the U.S. economy, and accordingly the U.S. dollar, as the Federal Reserve continues to work towards stimulating economic growth and reducing the unemployment rate, which stood at 8.5% in December 2011.

Looking to the U.S. stock market, Facebook’s IPO has already greatly impacted the tech sector, including smaller companies that depend on it such as independent app makers and gaming platforms such as Zynga. This could boost investment opportunities in the growth sector on the U.S. equity market.

The US Dollar’s long-term outlook remains weighed down by poor growth prospects and a stubbornly high unemployment rate. A successful IPO of Facebook’s magnitude could further animate the “animal spirits” of the US stock markets, pushing them higher. This could add to demand for US dollars and overseas investors seek to be a part of any such rally.

It is important to remember that while Facebook’s expected $10 billion IPO is massive, it is quickly dwarfed by the foreign exchange market, which the Bank of International Settlements estimates to have a daily turnover of over $4 trillion – 80% of which includes the US Dollar one side of the trade. In light of this great difference in size, the effects of Facebook’s IPO is not likely to be felt in actual demand for dollars in order to purchase Facebook shares. Instead, if there is an effect, it will likely be more notable in the psychological effect it may have. A successful IPO may effectively burnish the United States’ image as a place to invest – especially with Europe likely to be in recession. If that leads to improved economic activity, this may allow the Federal Reserve to relax its very accommodative policy of low interest rates and quantitative easing in time. For the dollar to rise again, this is the most important event.

DailyFX provides forex news on the economic reports and political events that influence the currency market.
Learn currency trading with a free practice account and charts from FXCM.

Hopes of Greek progress shores up markets (AP)

LONDON – Markets clawed back lost ground Tuesday on hopes that Greece is heading toward a conclusion of debt-reduction talks with private creditors and that it may secure its second bailout package this week. Late Monday, following the agreement by a large majority of countries in the European Union to sign a new treaty designed to stop overspending in the eurozone, Greece’s Prime Minister Lucas Papademos indicated that progress was being made

View post:

LONDON – Markets clawed back lost ground Tuesday on hopes that Greece is heading toward a conclusion of debt-reduction talks with private creditors and that it may secure its second bailout package this week.

Late Monday, following the agreement by a large majority of countries in the European Union to sign a new treaty designed to stop overspending in the eurozone, Greece’s Prime Minister Lucas Papademos indicated that progress was being made.

“It is likely that the market will initially cheer an agreement should it be reached reflecting reduced concerns that Greece will default disorderly in March,” said Lee Hardman, an analyst at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ.

Though Greece remains the epicenter of Europe’s debt crisis, leaders are pushing ahead with other plans to tie economies together. The new treaty, commonly known as the fiscal compact, was agreed at a summit. Only Britain and the Czech Republic opted out of the deal that is meant to make it more difficult for countries to run up massive debts, like the ones that are currently roiling the 17-nation eurozone.

The hope among participants is that the tighter rules will restore confidence in their joint currency and convince investors that all of them will get their debts under control. For now, investors appear to be giving European policymakers the benefit of the doubt especially as there are hopes a second bailout of Greece will agreed alongside a debt-reduction deal between the country and its private creditors, possibly as soon as this week.

In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was up 0.9 percent at 5,719 while Germany’s DAX rose 1 percent to 6,508. The CAC-40 in France was 1.2 percent higher at 3,305.

Wall Street was poised for a solid opening — Dow futures and the broader S&P 500 futures were both up 0.5 percent.

The improvement in sentiment was evident in the currency markets too where the euro was up 0.4 percent at $1.3193. The euro often garners support when investors look to take on more risk.

Despite the more optimistic backdrop Tuesday, Europe’s debt woes remain the main worry in the markets. A growing fear is that Portugal may also need to get private creditors to reduce their debts, even though Europe’s leaders say Greece’s debt-reduction deal is a one-off. Portugal’s borrowing costs have been rising consistently to record highs over recent days as the economy shows few signs of improving

“The market also has Portugal in its spotlight as regards the potential default risk, and the Portuguese 10-year yield opened just above the 18 percent level this morning,” said Neil MacKinnon, global macro strategist at VTB Capital.

Earlier in Asia, solid Japanese industrial data helped stocks rally.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.1 percent to 8,802.51 after data showed December industrial activity rose 4 percent over the previous month. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 1.1 percent to 20,383.3 and Seoul’s Kospi was up 0.8 percent at 1,955.79.

China’s benchmark Shanghai Composite Index was up 0.3 percent at 2,292.61 ahead of Wednesday’s release of a key manufacturing index. Investors are hoping for a loosening of credit curbs if it shows activity is slowing amid lackluster global demand.

Oil prices tracked equities higher — benchmark oil for March delivery was up 98 cents to $99.76 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

____

Joe McDonald in Beijing contributed to this report.

Next Page »