Best Investment

Yesterday, the collapse which roiled global financial markets spread to forex markets, causing the Yen to loosen from its moorings and sending the currency upward against most of the worlds major currencies, including a 2% rise against the USD. While the Yen has already given back some of these gains, many analysts are already speculating that this jolt some life into the Yen and put an end to the carry trade which has sent the Yen to record lows. Ultimately, it is volatility that will lift the Yen, and Yen bulls are surely hoping for another week like this one. CBS Marketwatch reports: “One of the things that carry trade relies on is relative low levels of volatility. Clearly the most recent catalyst has been the Chinese market meltdown triggering a meltdown in other emerging markets and basically a shift out of riskier assets into less risky assets.” Read More: http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/carry-trade-unwinding-roils-currency/story.aspx?guid=%7BD649A4E9-FEB2-4BDB-93DF-BFEEE4CD4D10%7D

LONDON (Thomson Financial) - A dip in a key measure of US core inflation pushed the dollar lower on speculation that the US Federal Reserve may soon be in a position to cut interest rates as inflationary pressures ease.

Figures released this afternoon showed core inflation, as measured by the core personal consumption expenditures price index, was unchanged in March on a monthly basis after rising by 0.3 pct in February.

On a year-on-year basis, the core PCE deflator slowed to 2.1 pct from 2.4 pct in the year to February.

“Easier core inflation is helping raise hopes that the Fed can begin to focus more on flagging growth than on stubborn inflation,” said Jamie Coleman at Thomson IFR Markets.

He noted, however, that US rate-setters will want to see more than one month’s inflation moderation “before declaring the battle won”.

At 13.58 pm BST, the euro was trading at 1.3625 usd, up from 1.3616 just before the data were released, while the pound rose to 1.9952 usd from 1.9935 previously.

jessica.mortimer@thomson.com

jkm/ic

COPYRIGHT

Copyright AFX News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.

The copying, republication or redistribution of AFX News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of AFX News.

It’s hard for Mac users to be into computer games.

Whenever there’s been a popular title that runs on Microsoft’s (http://www.businessweek.com/ticker/) Windows operating system, Mac users have always had to wait—and wait and wait— until someone decided there might be enough demand, given the smaller market, to make a profit on an adapted version for Apple’s (http://www.businessweek.com/ticker/) Macintosh platform.

Resigned to this fate, many Mac users have bought a Sony (http://www.businessweek.com/ticker/) PlayStation or Xbox system, or even a Windows computer to devote to games. Ultimately, I bought a Windows machine. I told that story in this space a year ago (see BusinessWeek.com, 6/1/06, ), expressing hope for change. Wizardry of Id

With last year’s launch of Apple’s Boot Camp software for installing Windows XP on a Mac, I could pretty much play any game released for Windows that I wanted without muss or fuss. All I had to do was buy a copy of Windows XP. But the Windows-on-Mac phenomenon, now also possible with http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/snapshot/snapshot.asp?capId=23817374 virtualization software to run Windows alongside the Mac OS, has unleashed a strange phase in Mac gaming. Having suffered from a lack of options for years, now there are many, and they are confusing.

Take for instance the two gaming-related announcements to come out of Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco this week. EA (http://www.businessweek.com/ticker/) and http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/snapshot/snapshot.asp?capId=4469709, the company behind the Quake gaming franchise, both made new, but vastly different commitments to the Mac market this week.

Id said it is developing a new gaming engine called Id Tech 5 that works on the Mac. Think of a game engine as the engine of a car. The better it is under the hood, the more fun the car can be to drive. Id’s engine looked pretty impressive based on the video presented at the developer’s conference. In the Windows world, Id can be used to build extremely detailed virtual worlds with stunning graphical features, and now those developers writing for that platform can do so for the Mac, too. From there, it follows that more games developed on that engine—which Id plans to license—could support the Mac natively. This is very good news for Mac games. Apple Wrappers

EA announced it would release a handful of its more popular games on the Mac. This included the latest chapter in Command & Conquer, this one called Tiberium Wars. Other EA games coming to the Mac include a Harry Potter game, Battlefield 2142, and the racing game Need for Speed. More titles are slated for 2008. My first reaction was something like a Jim Cramer-esque “booyah!”

But then I scratched my head. It seems what EA is doing is something else entirely. It’s not building Mac-native versions of these games. Instead, it’s working with a Canadian software company called http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/snapshot/snapshot.asp?capId=4876395, which makes a product called Cider. What Cider does is interesting. Basically it takes advantage of the fact that a Mac and a PC are essentially the same inside. They have the same type of processor, use the same graphics chips, and so on.

Cider allows games developed first for Windows to run on a Mac by in essence acting as an interpreter between them. Instead of forcing developers to spend months rebuilding a PC game, Cider simplifies the process of Mac-ifying a Windows game. The original game doesn’t even need to be changed. Instead it’s wrapped with a few needed pieces of software that make the Windows-friendly bits friendly to Mac OS X. My only wonder is whether there’s going to be a performance hit. Will the wrappers that translate the Windows-speak to Mac-speak slow things down? I’ll have to wait and see. Crowded Landscape

Meanwhile, the new Parallels Desktop 3.0 supports 3D graphics, making it a contender for bridging the Mac-Windows gaming gap as well. Still, it would seem to me that if gaming is the primary reason you want to run Windows on your Mac, Boot Camp is the smarter option for two reasons: First, getting Parallels adds another $80 to the overall price you have to pay to get your Windows games running on the Mac. Second, since Parallels runs a second virtual computer within the Mac, you can’t help but lose a little bit of the performance you’d have running Windows by itself.

But these new developments aren’t quite what I had in mind when I bemoaned the lack of gaming opportunities on the Mac a year ago. I had hoped that Apple would do less to bridge the gap between Windows and Mac and do more to encourage, assist, and promote native game development for the Mac.

Instead, the Mac gaming landscape is starting to look crowded. Id Software’s engine is certainly encouraging. Not So Simple

Yet some games, like those from http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/snapshot/snapshot.asp?capId=7940888, will continue to be Mac-rebuilds of the Windows editions. Aspyr has put out Mac versions of The Sims 2 and Star Wars: Empire at War. Still more will be “Ciderized” using the Transgaming technology. And then there will be people like me who’ll just install Boot Camp or Parallels and play Windows games on a Mac.

As a longtime Mac user, I can sort through such confusion. But who’s going to explain all this to the person who’s dumping Windows but still wants to play games on a new Mac?

I can just imagine the scene in an Apple store: “Well, it’s like this,”says the Apple sales associate, proceeding to run through the litany of gaming options. Thusly bombarded, the would-be, first-time Mac owner makes a powerful observation: “I thought owning a Mac was supposed to be simple.”

“If the council want more parkland, we’ll definitely incorporate it into any future application” Mike Towers

LEITH Links would be extended and linked to a new waterfront park under plans unveiled today for the regeneration of the former Whyte and Mackay whisky plant.

The plan would see the existing parkland connected to a new park proposed for Leith’s dockland area.

The redevelopment of the Salamander Street bottling plant would transform part of Leith’s traditional red light district.

A series of new cycle paths, wider pavements and a memorial to the 18th century origins of Leith Links golf course are also being proposed for the site.

The ideas are contained in a planning blueprint drawn up by city council officials for development of the land.

The Links’ existing allotments would be retained and extended under the broad-brush plans expected to be approved by city councillors later this week.

The new parkland is the third such major project announced for the Capital in the past two years, following a 2 million park being created at Leith’s Western Harbour and a major public park planned for Craigmillar.

It is hoped that creating new housing in the former industrial neighbourhood will lead to a fall in the problems caused by prostitution and vandalism.

City planning chief Trevor Davies said: “This is a great opportunity to add green space to this area. The developers will be required to make land available for this purpose in order to build on the remaining land.

“This is part of our continued efforts to provide more green space throughout the city.”

The scheme was first mooted in 2004 by Teague Developements Ltd after it bought the whisky plant site from White & Mackay.

The firm, which was behind the Britannia Quay development of 330 apartments next to Ocean Terminal, announced that it had plans to transform the area into a new housing and retail development.

Strathclyde Homes currently has a neighbouring 23m shore development on Salamander Street, while Forth Ports is redeveloping the dockland area to the north of the site - in a scheme that includes the creation of the new parkland corridor stretching from Salamander Street to the coast.

Local councillor Phil Attridge said he was pleased to see more green spaces being proposed for the area.

However, Cllr Attridge added that he would prefer to see the existing parkland in Leith transformed first.

He said: “These are still only ideas as yet and nothing has been finalised, so we shouldn’t get carried away with the idea of new recreational areas being created.

“If they get the go-ahead, then of course they will be very welcome, but in the short term we should be looking at trying to do up what we already have at Leith Links.

“However, I do believe that any new development here will help to transform the area and hopefully sort out some of the problems that are usually associated with this part of Leith.”

Mike Towers, one of the architects contracted by Teague Developments, said extending the park was central to plans for the redevelopment. He said: “It is something that Teague are very keen to do. Although putting a park strip into the site will mean there’s less land for them to develop for housing, it will dramatically transform the area.

“If the council want more parkland in that area, then we will definitely incorporate it into any future planning application.

“And with the other plans for the docklands proposing a new park to the north of the site, it could help link Leith Links right down to the shoreline.

“This has the potential to be a major addition to the area and could help to curb the problems of vandalism and crime that have plagued it in the past.”

Related topic

- http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=1226
http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=1226

While the market lost steam after lunch, solar energy stocks held onto their gains. Clean energy ETFs blasted off thanks to double-digit percentage gains in China Sunergy, () Solarfun Power, () Suntech Power, () Trina Solar, () Yingli Green Energy. ()

First Trust Nasdaq Clean Edge U.S. Liquid Series () led the pack. It gained 0.94, or 4%, to 24.54. It has risen 22% from its 52-week low of 20.11. But it’s 27% below its high. It broke above the 50-day average, but not above the 200-day average. That means it has more work to do to prove its strength after such a steep correction.

Top Performers

First Trust outpaced all other green ETFs last year with a 65% return. But it also dropped the most year to date, 26%. Aside from solar energy, it includes companies engaged in making biofuels, batteries and chips. Last year’s monster stock First Solar, () weighted 9%, heads the 53-stock portfolio. First Solar rocketed 795% in 2007. It shed 7% year to date.

PowerShares WilderHill Clean Energy, () the largest by assets, also gained 4%. Like First Trust, its 50-day average has crossed below the 200-day. Last year’s No. 2 performer blasted 60% in 2007. It plunged 25% year to date, but has vaulted 13% off its bottom.

Market Vectors Global Alternative Energy, () launched 11 months ago, surged 1.24 to 49.89. It has crossed above both the short-term and long-term moving averages, so it looks more bullish than the first two. It spiked 49% last year. It corrected 17% year to date.

Prospects And Risks

Anthony Welch’s firm, Sarasota Capital Strategies, has owned PowerShares WilderHill Clean Energy since it launched in March 2005.

“Clean energy isn’t going away, and it has a place in most portfolios,” said Welch. “I would caution, however, that this is a smaller cap sector and can produce wild swings in price.”

But Welch prefers PowerShares Global Clean Energy () now because of its international exposure. The portfolio weights U.S companies at 28%, Germany 16.9%, Spain 10.4%, China 7.2%, France 7.5% and Denmark 6.6%. It also includes names from Japan, Australia, Brazil and Ireland. The ETF returned 26% last year. But it lost 17% year to date. It sports the highest Relative Strength Rating, 78, in its category.

Clean energy is not only volatile, but also tied to swings in oil. When oil prices fall so does the interest in alternative energy. Since peaking at $110.35 March 17, crude oil eased to $104.83, as of Wednesday.

“The entire alternative energy industry is a creation of government intervention rather than meeting a market demand,” said Marvin Appel of Appel Asset Management. “Their fortunes will depend on politics more than anything else for years to come, especially since energy prices appear to have peaked for now.”