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An increasingly likely playoff berth and fan interest in hockey after the Vancouver Olympics could be accounting for the increase in attendance at Phoenix Coyotes games.

The Coyotes, which have won two straight games, drew a crowd of just under 15,000 on Saturday against the Anaheim Ducks and 12,400 on Thursday against the Colorado Avalanche. The Coyotes average a National Hockey League attendance low of 11,200 fans per game.

The team is in fourth place in the NHL's Western Conference. The top eight teams make the playoffs, and the Coyotes are getting close to assuring themselves a spot. The team has not made the playoffs since 2002.

Strong performance on the ice and fan interest in hockey during the Olympics could help bolster the Coyotes. The team could have moved to Canada in the offseason while they were in Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The Coyotes even are promoting Stanley Cup playoff ticket deals to season ticket holders.

The 15,000-fan draw for the Coyotes also comes on a night when they were competing directly with the Phoenix Suns and Cactus League baseball for fans. The Suns drew 18,200 for their win over the Indiana Pacers.

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Bank Indonesia is “confident” the country will meet the central bank’s inflation target this year, Senior Deputy Governor Darmin Nasution said today.

The projection takes into account rising prices and a recovery in the global economy, Nasution said in Jakarta. Consumer-price gains are expected to average 4 percent to 6 percent in 2010, he said Jan. 6.

Indonesia’s central bank kept its benchmark interest rate at 6.5 percent for a fifth month Jan. 6, saying it wasn’t concerned about inflation pressures in the first half. Consumer prices in Southeast Asia’s largest economy held near a decade low in December, giving the bank more time before it joins other Asian policy makers in raising borrowing costs fast cash now.

Indonesia’s inflation will probably be “relatively tame” at about 5.3 percent this year, Helmi Arman, an economist at PT Bank Danamon Indonesia, said in a research note Jan. 18. Economic growth will probably be “close to 5.2 percent,” Arman said in the note.

“The odds are rising for the BI rate to stay at 6.5 percent this year, which paves the way for a smoother recovery of commercial bank credit growth,” Bank Danamon said.

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A U.K. house-price gauge showed the property market unexpectedly lost momentum in December as inquiries from new buyers to browse homes slipped.

The number of real-estate agents saying prices rose exceeded those reporting declines by 30 percentage points, down from 35 points in November, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said in its monthly survey today. Economists predicted 37 points, according to the median of 14 forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey.

The report suggests the U.K. property market’s pickup from the slump that shaved as much as 20 percent off values is starting to fade. House prices will be flat this year, Lloyds Banking Group Plc’s Halifax unit said Jan. 7. Prime Minister Gordon Brown is counting on stronger economic growth to help revive his popularity before a general election which must be held by June.

“What all this is suggesting is the sugar rush or pent up demand that helped housing to rebound is running out of steam,” Alan Clarke, an economist at BNP Paribas in London, said in a note today. “This series was the best early warning signal that the housing market was going to bounce back. Unfortunately, our charts suggest there is further downside for enquiries.”

Housing-Market Slack

The sales-to-stock ratio, a measure of slack in the housing market, was little changed at 30.5, close to the highest since Dec. 2007, the report showed. Average sales per surveyor over the last three months rose to 19.1 from 19.

Seven of 12 regions tracked by RICS showed price increases in the past three months, and the rest had declines. The biggest gain was in London and the southeast of England, where the net balance of surveyors saying prices increased was at 41 points.

U.K. house prices rose 0.6 percent in November from a year earlier, the Department for Communities and Local Government said separately today. On the month, prices increased 1.7 percent, the DCLG said in a statement on its Web site.

“New inquiries are continuing to outpace new instructions which is helping to push house prices higher,” Jeremy Leaf, spokesman for RICS, said in a statement. “The recent loss of momentum in prices and the moderation in new buyer interest can be in part attributed to the housing market pulling down its shutters for Christmas.”

Bank of England policy maker Kate Barker said on Dec. 16 that she is “surprised” by the pickup in house prices and predicted the recovery may stall in 2010. London-based research group Hometrack said last month that prices will decline this year as rising unemployment and concern about government spending cuts limit demand.

Retail Sales

A separate British Retail Consortium survey released today showed total sales rose 6 percent in December from a year earlier, the most for the month since 2005. Same-store sales increased 4.2 percent on the year, compared with a 3.3 percent drop in December last year after the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. deepened the recession.

“These are stronger figures than we dared hope for,” Stephen Robertson, director general of the London-based BRC, said in a statement. “Customers clearly felt more confident about spending than they have for some time.”

British lenders reduced the cost of mortgages for a third month in December as the Bank of England kept the benchmark interest rate at a record low and maintained its 200-billion pound ($322 billion) bond-purchase program to try and cement the economic recovery. The U.K. economy contracted 0.2 percent in the third quarter, extending the slump to a sixth quarter.

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Jackie Krovblit’s heart is bigger than the 120-pound inspiration behind her company’s namesake, Big Dog Bakery.

Having instantly fallen in love with Trixie, her Great Dane and silent business partner, Krovblit opened Big Dog Bakery when she realized her "child" was too important for mass-produced pet food.

And now Big Dog Bakery is the big dog on Queen Street in the Beach – the only boutique pet store in the area that bakes products on the premises.

The bakery, located in the building that once housed the Three Dog Bakery, is decorated in a rainbow of colours. Cupcakes covered in blue, pink, white and cocoa icing sit in display windows. The shelves are stacked with cookies and empanadas for cats and dogs. Dog cakes are baking in an oven behind the counter.

Trixie greets customers with a wag of her tail. The gentle Great Dane is the hallmark of Big Dog Bakery. Her face is on every package of treats the stores sells.

Trixie "is my big dog in a little package," says Krovblit, who confesses, "I never thought I would have a dog. But when I got Trixie, my whole world opened up, like a lightning bolt."

Krovblit started Big Dog Bakery from her home in 2004. Making biscuits and treats in her toaster oven, she used Trixie and dogs in the park to figure what worked.

Big Dog then moved to Toronto’s Woofstock – a festival for dogs in the Distillery District – in its first year.

"They (cakes and cookies) are healthy – it’s like giving your dog something really special," Krovblit says. "Yes, the look is entirely marketing, it is for the person, the dogs can’t really see the colour but they can smell. So the dog will think, `What’s that?’

"It goes back to what makes something really palatable for the dog payday loans for bad credit. The market is there, so give people what they want. And the dog is going to feed off it and the person will get a kick out of it."

After her inaugural year at Woofstock, she started selling gourmet cakes, made with natural, human-grade ingredients and an assortment of dog treats through select stores around the GTA. It was in 2006 when she lost her job in the restaurant industry and put all her efforts into the bakery, which she opened in July.

Big Dog Bakery has since expanded to Home Sense locations throughout Ontario and Quebec at Christmas.

"I had to carry over from an existing store (Three Dog Bakery) with an American branding so it took a bit of work to convince people our product is better and healthier. All our bakery stuff is almost 100 per cent made in store. It’s a new concept so people need to realize that," says Krovblit.

Iced with either carob or cream cheese, the store sells about 40 customized cakes each month in flavours like Peanut Butter Bliss, Chop Lick ‘n Liver and Banana Rama.

Krovblit has also discovered the purrfect companion products for dogs – cat food. So Big Dog Bakery now includes freshly made gourmet cat treats in its menu.

"People these days really care (about their pets), and they want to know where things are coming from and everybody in our market and demographic consider the dog to be part of the family," Krovblit said.

"They want to give that dog a lot and they want them to live as long as possible. And why shouldn’t that dog be on the same level of health and nutrition (as its masters)?"

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Stocks rallied Tuesday as worries about Dubai’s debt problems eased, gold hit a record above $1,200 and GE and Comcast moved closer to a deal on NBC Universal.

The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) added 127 points, or 1.2%, closing at the highest point since Oct. 2, 2008. The S&P 500 (SPX) index gained 13 points, or 1.2%, and closed just short of a 14-month high. The Nasdaq composite (COMP) rose 31 points, or 1.5%, and remained short of a 14-month high hit a week ago.

Bets that Dubai’s debt problems won’t have a major impact on U.S. institutions lifted stocks late Monday and through Tuesday’s session. Stocks also reacted to the day’s better-than-expected economic readings on construction spending and pending home sales.

"The market is treating Dubai like a non-event and continuing to trade on momentum," said Joe Clark, market analyst at Financial Enhancement Group.

He said that the momentum is likely to keep stocks aloft or even push them higher through year-end, despite the already substantial run up since the March lows.

Since bottoming at a 12-year low March 9, the Dow has gained nearly 60%, the S&P 500 has gained 64% and the Nasdaq has gained 72%.

Investors also kept an eye on auto sales, which were down from October but mostly higher from a year ago. After the close, GM said CEO Fritz Henderson has resigned and will be temporarily replaced by Chairman Ed Whitacre, until a successor is found.

The weak dollar also played a role in the day’s advance, boosting commodity prices and stocks, continuing a trend that’s been in place all year.

Gold touches $1,200: COMEX gold for December delivery rallied $18 to settle at $1,199.10 an ounce, after rising as high as $1,202.70. It’s the first time the precious metal has ever traded at this level.

Company news: AIG (AIG, Fortune 500) said it is wiping out $25 billion of its government debt by selling stakes in two of its life insurance subsidiaries to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Shares gained 8.6%.

General Electric (GE, Fortune 500) has reportedly reached a deal to buy Vivendi SA’s 20% stake in NBC Universal for about $5.8 billion, moving GE closer to its goal of partnering with Comcast (CMCSA, Fortune 500) to create one of the largest U.S. media companies.

GE is looking to sell a 51% stake in NBC Universal to Comcast, while retaining a 49% stake in the company that is valued at around $30 billion.

Dubai and world markets: Dubai World, the city-state’s main investment arm, said it is in talks to restructure $26 billion in debt, cooling worries that it might go into default and wipe out the investment of its creditors.

Global markets slumped last week after the Dubai government asked to defer payments for at least six months on $60 billion in debt owed by Dubai World and Nakheel, its real estate arm.

Overseas markets surged, with London’s FTSE 100, Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 all closing with gains of more than 2%. Asian markets rallied too, with Japan’s Nikkei ending 2.4% higher.

Autos: Major automakers reported sales in November that met or topped expectations. But any improvements year-over-year were easy, given the dismal results in November 2008. On a monthly basis, sales slumped from October levels.

Among the standouts: General Motors reported a 1.8% drop in November sales from a year ago, versus forecasts for a drop of 1.3%. But sales were down 15% from October levels. Ford Motor’s sales were little changed from a year ago and down 10% from October.

ISM index: The November manufacturing index from the Institute for Supply Management fell to 53.6 from 55.7 in October, surprising economists who were looking for ISM to fall to 55. However, any reading over 50 implies expansion in the sector.

Pending home sales: Signed contracts to buy homes rose 3.7% in October, the ninth monthly increase in a row, according to a National Association of Realtors report released Tuesday. Pending home sales were expected to have fallen 1% after rising 6% previously.

Other economic news: Construction spending in October was unchanged, the government reported. Spending fell 1.6% in September and was expected to have fallen 0.5% in October, according to analysts’ estimates.

President Obama is due to announce his strategy on Afghanistan in a speech Tuesday night from West Point.

The dollar and oil: The dollar fell versus the euro and gained against the yen.

U.S. light crude oil for January delivery rose $1.47 to $78.75 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Bonds: Treasury prices tumbled, raising the yield on the 10-year note to 3.27%, from 3.20% late Monday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Market breadth was positive. On the New York Stock Exchange, winners beat losers four to one on volume of 1.13 billion shares. On the Nasdaq, advancers topped decliners by two to one on volume of 2.20 billion shares. 

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Swiss bank UBS is threatening to move its headquarters out of Switzerland if the authorities impose too many new regulations in the wake of the global financial crisis, Swiss weekly paper Sonntag CH said.

Oswald Gruebel, chief executive of Switzerland’s biggest bank by assets, made the threat in a speech to businessmen last week, citing the possibility that the authorities would force major banks to reorganize as holding companies, the paper said on Sunday.

A UBS spokeswoman declined to comment on the report.

Gruebel spoke to the Zurich Business Club on Thursday at a closed-door event at which reporters were not present.

The idea of forcing banks in Switzerland to operate as holding companies is part of the discussion on supervising banks deemed “too big to fail.”

Switzerland’s relatively small economy is dominated by two mega-banks, UBS and Credit Suisse.

Swiss National Bank Vice-Chairman Philipp Hildebrand, noting total banking assets are more than seven times the size of Swiss gross domestic product, said earlier this month that the country urgently needed tougher regulatory standards than other countries given the relative size of its banks. [ID:nLI129832]

The Swiss government bailed out UBS in October 2008 by injecting 6 billion Swiss francs ($5.95 billion) in return for a stake of some 9 percent, subsequently sold at a profit.

UBS also originally planned to transfer some $60 billion in illiquid assets to the central bank, but this was later reduced to $39 billion.

Swiss regulators believe that forcing multinational banks to operate as national institutions in different countries, controlled by a central holding company, would allow the authorities in a crisis to rescue the Swiss company while letting foreign subsidies go under, the paper said.

But such a structure would oblige the bank to inject capital into the subsidiaries, which would be expensive.

In such circumstances it would be logical to move the holding company abroad, the paper quoted Gruebel as saying.

Gruebel is not the only banker to threaten a move.

Bankers and hedge funds in London often say they will move to Switzerland if UK regulation and taxation becomes too oppressive.

($1=1.009 Swiss Franc)

(Reporting by Jonathan Lynn; Editing by Mike Nesbit)

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The world is closer to a peak in oil supply than International Energy Agency estimates admit, UK newspaper The Guardian reported in its Tuesday edition, citing an unidentified “whistleblower” at the IEA.

The IEA, which advises 28 industrialized countries on energy policy, is scheduled to release its World Energy Outlook on Tuesday. It 2008 Outlook forecasts world oil supply will rise to 106 million barrels per day in 2030.

“Many inside the organization believe that maintaining oil supplies at even 90 million to 95 million barrels a day would be impossible but there are fears that panic could spread on the financial markets if the figures were brought down further,” the Guardian quoted the IEA source as saying.

Fatih Birol, the IEA’s chief economist, could not immediately be reached by Reuters for comment on the Guardian article, which appeared on the newspaper’s front page payday advance.

While the Paris-based IEA has repeatedly warned that a lack of investment could lead to a strain on supply, it maintains that there is enough oil in the ground.

Its 2008 World Energy Outlook said global oil output was “not expected to peak before 2030.”

The peak oil theory — that supply has reached or will soon reach a high point and then fall — has long been confined to the fringes of informed opinion within the industry.

There is also growing interest in peak demand, the view that oil supply will reach a high point because of policies to curb fuel use as part of efforts to counteract global warming, not a lack of supply.

(Reporting by Alex Lawler; Editing by David Gregorio)

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Top officials from Magna and Opel expressed confidence on Wednesday that General Motors will go through with selling its European arm to Canada’s Magna despite a second chance to review the deal.

GM’s board of directors is due to meet on Tuesday to reconsider its decision in light of assurances from Germany that 4.5 billion euros ($6.68 billion) in state aid was available to any Opel buyer — not just Magna, Berlin’s favored bidder.

Asked what the chances were that GM would seize on European Union competition authorities’ misgivings about the state aid and reverse its decision, Opel Chairman Carl-Peter Forster told Reuters: “I would see them at clearly below 50 percent.”

Magna Co-Chief Executive Siegfried Wolf also took an upbeat line at the Automobil Forum Graz industry conference.

“I am convinced that we will sign the contract soon if the EU…agrees. We are very, very hopeful,” he said.

Forster told the conference that sale contracts were practically ready to be signed and he hoped they could be inked quickly once GM gives the green light.

A source had told Reuters last week that there was still a possibility that GM’s board could opt out of a sale of Opel in favor of keeping the European carmaker.

GM and Germany’s Opel Trust — set up in May to keep Opel from being dragged into GM’s brief U.S. bankruptcy — have to inform Berlin that they would still have picked Magna as Opel’s buyer even knowing that any buyer would get state aid payday advance lender.

The German government then needs to tell Brussels.

Magna and its Russian partner Sberbank are set to get a 55 percent stake in Opel under the deal. GM would keep 35 percent and Opel staff would get 10 percent in return for labor cost concessions.

Magna’s group won Berlin’s backing by proposing to keep all four Opel plants in Germany open. Half of Opel’s 50,000 workers are based in Germany.

This triggered suspicions in other countries with Opel plants — including Britain, Belgium and Spain — that Berlin was using pledges of state aid to get favorable treatment for its domestic car industry.

Financial investor RHJ International and carmakers Fiat and BAIC had also been in the running for Opel, although RHJ has since said it is no longer interested.

It remains unclear how Germany’s new center-right government will view the deal, which returning Chancellor Angela Merkel helped broker.

The liberal Free Democrats (FDP), new partners of Merkel’s conservatives, are broadly skeptical of the planned sale of Opel to Magna, but FDP member Rainer Bruederle, who is set to be sworn in as economy minister on Wednesday, has said there is no way the new government can stop it. 

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Private equity giant Blackstone Group’s chief executive said the worst of the industry’s problems had passed, with improved capital and equity markets finally providing an opportunity to do deals and sell existing investments through IPOs.

Stephen Schwarzman also said on Wednesday he was seeing “more than green shoots” of economic recovery, though the scale of growth through next year was still unclear.

Private equity firms have been hampered since the credit crisis shut off their ability to tap financing for leveraged buyouts; the financial turmoil has also damaged the health of their portfolio companies. Economic recovery and a rebound in financing markets are key for the industry.

“We do not expect the U.S. economy to slip back into recession but we do believe that weak consumer spending and continued constraints on bank lending will dampen the U.S. economic recovery in 2010 and 2011,” Schwarzman said at the Super Return Middle East conference in Dubai.

While it would take several years before “freely flowing but responsible credit” was re-established, the private equity industry was in a “radically different place” than a year ago, given signs of life in the bank financing market, he said.

“We can certainly do transactions in the $3-$4 billion range at this stage in the cycle,” he said on the sidelines of the conference. “And with low leverage involved, deals of that size can use in excess of $1 billion equity.”

Blackstone, one of the world’s biggest private equity firms, struck a deal earlier this month to buy Anheuser-Busch InBev’s U.S. theme parks for up to $2.7 billion, adding to its amusement assets such as the Madame Tussauds wax museums, Legoland and the London Eye Ferris wheel.

Based on recent deals, Blackstone’s implied investment rate is $4 billion to $5 billion a year, Schwarzman said.

He said right now is an excellent time to purchase stable businesses in developed markets, but added it was still too early for cyclical companies. He sees opportunities to buy growth companies in Asia.

Schwarzman said while he expects more deals ahead, Blackstone has been outbid by companies rather than private equity firms on several occasions recently.

Blackstone shares rose 4 percent in morning trade on the New York Stock Exchange, to $16.53 — about half the firm’s June 2007 IPO price of $31 a share.

The shares also rose sharply on Monday, when a letter Schwarzman sent to investors previewing his speech leaked out.

EXIT STRATEGY

He said the route to exiting acquisitions had opened, citing five sales — of which four are complete and one imminent. If all five are completed, Blackstone’s funds will receive about $2.8 billion, he said.

In the letter to investors, obtained by Reuters, Schwarzman said these sales occurred at prices between 140 percent and 240 percent of Blackstone’s year-end 2008 valuations. 

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Several big airlines this week have added $10 surcharges for most of their tickets for travel on three busy days around Thanksgiving and New Year’s holidays.

American and United airlines added the charge for travel on Nov. 29, the Sunday after Thanksgiving, as well as Jan. 2 and 3. On Friday, US Airways Group Inc. matched the surcharge, and FareCompare.com said Delta Air Lines Inc. added it, too.

Spokespersons for Southwest Airlines Co. and Continental Airlines Inc. said they had not added the surcharge.

Rick Seaney of FareCompare.com noted that the Sunday after Thanksgiving is one of the busiest travel days of the year, and that the two dates in January are heavily traveled as well.

He said the airlines probably added the charge rather than raise base fares because it was a quick, targeted way to charge more on busy travel days no fax cash advance.

"The bottom line this year for consumers is that it’s pretty clear that if you procrastinate on your holiday travel, you’re going to get stung," he said.

He said holiday fares are still running 15 percent to 20 percent lower than last year, with prices to bigger cities carrying the bigger discount from a year ago.

American added the charge on Wednesday, and United matched on Thursday.

Shares of American parent AMR Corp. rose 28 cents, or 3.6 percent, to $8.02. United parent UAL Corp. added 47 cents, or 5.3 percent, to $9.30, and US Airways Group Inc. was up 5 cents to $4.96. Delta Air Lines Inc. rose 13 cents, or 1.5 percent, to $9.05.

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