InformedTrades

Worldwide media tablet shipments rose by 88.9% on a sequential basis and 303.8% year over year in the second calendar quarter of 2011 (2Q11) to 13.6 million units, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Media Tablet and eReader Tracker. Based on this strong performance in the second quarter, and an improved outlook for the second half of the year, IDC raised its shipment forecast for 2011 to 62.5 million units, up from a previous projection of 53.5 million units.

And three: This 22-nanometer 3D-transistor architecture consumes so little power-20 times less than their current gear-that it can run on a solar cell. That's exactly what they demonstrated at the Intel's Developer Forum today: a Haswell-based Windows computer running entirely off a solar cell that was being exposed to a light bulb. Imagine that. Basically, your computer would be able to run indefinitely without ever having to power off, even if you run out of battery power to run the machine's display. I'm impressed.

Former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney believes Israel would attack Iran to prevent it from achieving nuclear weapons capacity, he said in an interview aired Monday. When asked about the possibility of an Israeli preemptive attack against Iran, Cheney told Newsmax TV that "Iran represents an existential threat, and [the Israelis] will do whatever they have to do to guarantee their survival and their security."

Kovner is now the 7th hedge fund manager to retire within a year. Recent and major departures from the hedge fund kingdom - Stanley Druckenmiller, Paolo Pelligrini, George Soros, Richard Grubman and Lou Simpson - signal a trend of investors retiring at a time when hedge funds show the worst results in recent memory.

Like many emerging market currencies, the Brazilian real has quickly given up all the gains it made against the US dollar in the first half of 2011 and is now back at levels not seen for a year. While that movement is undoubtedly part of a broader EM trend, Brazil is also a case apart. As Monday's issue of the central bank's weekly survey of market economists suggested, something big has changed in Brazilian monetary policy.

G7 LEADERS pledged to take "all necessary actions" to restore stability to world markets after a summit dominated by the euro zone debt crisis and the resignation of chief economist Jürgen Stark from the ECB. With the euro hitting its lowest level in six months on Friday after news broke of Mr Stark's early departure, G7 finance ministers and central bankers meeting in Marseille issued a statement affirming they would take concerted action to calm the turbulence.

Korean electronics giant Samsung has launched a solar powered laptop in the Kenyan market targeting thousands of potential consumers currently locked out of the computer revolution by lack of electricity.

* IMF document warns risks to economy have risen sharply * IMF has about $390 billion it could comfortably lend now * Staff estimate funding needs may rise as high as $840 bln (Adds details on IMF meeting on gold profits, G7 summit)

Google has revealed how much energy it consumes to power YouTube, Gmal and its other services in the internet 'cloud' - and it's enough to power the capital of Utah. But bosses behind the search engine giant have launched a defence of the unprecedented reveal of its energy consumption. According to Google Senior Vice-President Urs Hoelzle, the company has maintained a carbon-neutral imprint since 2007.

Hungary may force the nation's lenders to swallow losses on foreign-currency mortgage loans by fixing the Swiss franc as much as 20 percent below prevailing rates. The plan would fix the Alpine currency's rate at 180 forint and the euro at 250 forint for the early repayment of foreign- currency mortgages, Janos Lazar of the ruling Fidesz party told a press conference today in Hajduszoboszlo, eastern Hungary. The proposal will be discussed by the Cabinet on Sept. 11 and a decision may be made the next day, a party spokesman said.

We have been discussing the indications being sent by the credit markets and the turn in the credit cycle that appeared to be developing. Just to add to the pile of cyclical turn indicators, we note that the number of corporate bonds receiving S&P credit rating downgrades exceeded upgrades this quarter for the first time since Q1 2010. Obviously, this is led by the high-yield names but the withdrawal of liquidity often rapidly pushes crossover names closer to the edge and inevitably leads up the capital structure and quality spectrum.

Group of Seven finance chiefs meeting in southern France are considering issuing a communique after their talks, a G7 source said on Friday. G7 chair France had said there would be no communique from the talks, but the source said the issue was now being debated and there was a 50 percent chance of a statement.

The central bank chief said China saw no "special urgency" in having the yuan included in the basket of currencies that make up the Special Drawing Right, the International Monetary Fund's in-house unit of account. But Zhou said he welcomed discussion of the idea as part of the search for ways to improve the functioning of the global financial system. The SDR comprises the dollar, euro, yen and sterling. Under current IMF guidelines, the yuan is not eligible for inclusion in the basket because it is not convertible.

Here's Bernanke's speech to the Economic Club of Minnesota. There's not much new here. He basically says the growth outlook isn't great, and that the Fed has more tools. But he says nothing explicit. Markets aren't moving much on this.

Chinese officials told European Union business executives that the yuan will achieve "full convertibility" by 2015, EU Chamber of Commerce in China President Davide Cucino said. "We were told by those officials by 2015," Cucino told reporters in Beijing yesterday, declining to identify the government departments involved. People's Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan said that while there is no timetable for convertibility, the offshore yuan market is "developing faster than what we had imagined."

 The OECD recommends that central banks keep policy rates at present levels, and barring signs of recovery, consider lowering rates when there is scope.  Other monetary policy responses to the crisis could include further central bank interventions in securities markets, strong commitments to keeping interest rates low over an extended period and the withdrawal of monetary tightening in emerging economies.

European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet talks about the decision to leave the central bank's benchmark interest rate at 1.5 percent and the risks to the euro-area economy.

The negative feedback loop between weak growth and soggy asset markets makes a coordinated monetary policy easing move more likely - perhaps as early as the G7 meeting this weekend. The Fed, the ECB, the BoJ and the BoE could all participate in a coordinated move with a mix of rate cuts and quantitative easing.

UN Security Council members on Wednesday denounced Iran's failure to abide by United Nations resolutions demanding an end to the possible weaponization of its nuclear program. The United States, Germany, France and Britain joined forces in exposing Tehran's advanced 20-per-cent uranium enrichment, which is considered military weapons grade. Tehran said its enrichment program was needed for medical and civilian uses.

A meeting of Group of Seven finance chiefs on Friday will discuss the struggling world economy and progress in regulating the financial sector but a coordinated action plan to calm markets is unlikely. Delegates at the one-day gathering in the Mediterranean port city of Marseille will seek to emphasize their commitment to preserving the fragile global recovery while avoiding promoting a one-size-fits-all approach, G7 sources say.