US to postpone enforcement of CAFTA-DR agreement
Mexico City: The United States has said Friday that it intends to postpone the enforcement of a free trade agreement with Central America and the Dominican Republic (CAFTA-DR), as per reports in the Mexican media.

According to the reports, U.S. trade authorities have issued a statement in Washington that says it plans to delay the enforcement of the agreement for one or two months.

As per the original agreements, the governments that had signed the CAFTA-DR were scheduled to start enforcing the agreement on the first day of 2006, but various delays in paperwork have now led to the postponement.

"The United States will take CAFTA-DR into effect in a progressive way as the countries make sufficient changes to comply with the established commitments in the agreement," said U.S. trade authorities in a statement issued in Washington.

The press reports noted that the CAFTA-DR agreement had led to numerous protests in Central American countries, as well as the U.S. legislators, due to the risk of increasing the jobless rate in that region and the United States, as well as creating problems for Central American agricultural producers.

"Several countries are almost prepared to apply CAFTA-DR, but none has completed internal procedures," the statement said.

According to a US government spokesman, the countries could continue to enjoy the current commercial preferences granted by Washington.
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Dow experiences first loss for the year since '02
New York: In the year's final trading session on Friday, the Dow Jones industrial average fell to its first loss since 2002, while both the broad S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite Index booked gains for the third straight year.

Even as the Dow declined 0.61 per cent, the S&P 500 rose for a third consecutive year, advancing 3 per cent. The advance however marked its smallest annual gain since 1987.

The tech heavy Nasdaq also climbed for a third straight year, rising 1.37 per cent, helped by multi-digit gains in bellwethers including Google Inc. up about 117 per cent for the year, and Apple Computer Inc. up about 122 per cent for 2005, on a split-adjusted basis.

In the broad S&P 500 index, energy stocks were the best performing in 2005, with a 29.1 per cent gain. The worst-performing S&P 500 groups were communications, with a 9 per cent drop, and consumer discretionary, with a 7.3 per cent slide.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 67.32 points, or 0.62 per cent, to end at 10,717.50. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index slipped 6.13 points, or 0.49 per cent, to 1,248.29. The technology heavy Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 12.84 points, or 0.58 per cent, to 2,205.32.

A fourth-quarter rally stalled this week after short-term U.S. Treasury yields rose above those of longer issues for the first time in five years. This development, called an inversion of the yield curve, has in the past predicted the start of economic recessions.
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Citigroup doubles offer to US$3.2bn for Guangdong Bank
Shanghai: After doubling its offer to US$3.2bn on Friday, Citigroup is now expected to assume a controlling stake in China's Guangdong Development Bank. The offer, which would sideline offers from rivals ABN Amro and Societe Generale, would mark a definitive entry for the world's biggest banking group into what has so far been a very protected sector of the Chinese economy.

With the offer, a consortium led by Citigroup has now agreed to pay twice the book value for an 85 per cent stake in a medium sized banking entity. The deal arrived at with the central bank and the provincial government is expected to be ratified by China's State Council in the coming days.

Guangdong's financial difficulties have allowed the Citigroup to make an entry into a sector that does not normally allow any foreign holdings.
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