Two passengers injured during turbulent flight

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: Passenger: "It felt like an amusement ride when you're going down"
• The passengers' injuries are not life-threatening, an airline spokesman says
• Ambulances meet the plane at the gate in Charleston, South Carolina
• The plane was flying from Miami to Washington

(CNN) -- A plane made an emergency landing in South Carolina Tuesday after two passengers were injured during the turbulent flight, aviation authorities said.

Ambulances met American Airlines Flight 734 at the gate after it landed in Charleston, South Carolina, Tuesday afternoon, Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said.

The plane -- which had 152 people onboard -- experienced "severe turbulence" as it flew over the border between Florida and Georgia, airline spokesman Tim Smith said. Two passengers and one flight attendant asked to be examined by paramedics, but their injuries were not life-threatening, he said.

One passenger described a few harrowing moments aboard the plane to CNN affiliate WCSC.

"It felt like an amusement ride when you're going down ... We shot back up, and then we came back down, and we finally leveled off," passenger Nicole Turner said.

Mechanical inspectors will investigate the plane, which was flying in stormy weather between Miami and Washington, D.C. American Airlines was planning to send a new aircraft to take passengers to Washington Tuesday evening, he said.

CNN's Dave Alsup and Chandler Friedman contributed to this report.

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NJ tourism could be in for boost from new Revel casino - Asbury Park Press

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BofA, Citigroup Drop on Concern Over Economy, European Debt

August 05, 2011, 1:59 PM EDT

By Michael J. Moore and Rita Nazareth

(Updates with investor?s quote in the third paragraph.)

Aug. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc. led U.S. bank stocks lower as a weak U.S. economy, Europe?s debt crisis and losses linked to souring home loans threaten to undermine financial industry earnings.

Bank of America, the largest U.S. lender by assets, fell 4.8 percent to $8.41 at 1:12 p.m. in New York, the lowest level since April 2009. New York-based Citigroup dropped 4.4 percent to $33.27. The KBW Bank Index of 24 U.S. financial stocks slid 0.4 percent, declining for 10 of the past 11 days, amid concern Europe?s sovereign debt crisis may spread.

?There?s concern of a U.S. downgrade and how that leads to a ripple effect in credit markets, which leads to higher borrowing costs and an economy that?s not expanding," said Peter Kenny, a managing director in institutional sales at Knight Capital Group Inc. ??There?s also a sense that the European crisis is becoming more central to the global economy than ever before."

Matthew Burnell, an analyst at Wells Fargo & Co., cut his recommendation on Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America to ??market perform?? from ??outperform?? today because of lower expectations for the U.S. economy. Bank of America said yesterday that investor demands it repurchase soured mortgages may cost more than previously forecast.

Citigroup was subpoenaed by the California Attorney General?s Office as part of an investigation into mortgage securitization practices, a person familiar with the matter said after the close of trading yesterday.

--Editors: David Scheer, Dan Kraut

To contact the reporters on this story: Michael J. Moore in New York at mmoore55@bloomberg.net; Rita Nazareth in New York at rnazareth@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: David Scheer at dscheer@bloomberg.net

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Virgin Atlantic Issues 'Weep Warnings' On Flights

Jupiter Images

Virgin Atlantic has decided to put "weep warnings" before emotional movies shown in-flight. It seems emotions run high at 30,000 feet.

The warning will appear before the start of an in-flight movie, to help passengers make emotionally-sound decisions.

The move came after a survey found that 55 percent of passengers polled said their emotions became more heightened during flight. 41 percent of men admitted to hiding under a blanket to hide their tears, while women were more apt to pretend they had something in their eye, reports the Daily Mail.

So instead of watching, say, "Toy Story 3", which passengers cited as one of the most moving films, take a flight on Qantas, which is now showing a documentary on the female orgasm. It's a...different kind of emotion.

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Fragile Economy Keeps Older Workers From Retirement

By Chris Farrell

For those in their 50s and early 60s the doubts start after opening the quarterly 401(k) statement. The numbers look small following a decade of measly stock market returns and bear market devastations, including a fresh jolt on Aug. 4, when the S&P 500 index swooned, extending the tumble from its peak in late April to 12 percent. Two-year Treasury note yields hit a record low, while the yield on one-month T-bills slipped into negative territory. Taken together, the economic data are sending an aging, insecure workforce a clear message: Don?t retire yet.

"Things are too uncertain," says Richard V. Burkhauser, economist and professor of policy analysis at Cornell University. "There?s no way to protect yourself from all unexpected risks except not to retire."

In the first half of 2011, the U.S. economy grew at a meager 0.8 percent annualized rate; investors appear increasingly nervous that a so-called double-dip recession is becoming more likely. Those worries were exacerbated this week by the debt-ceiling accord reached in Congress, which will seek $1.5 trillion in deficit cuts by year?s end?a particularly rocky period for the recovery.

The long-term trend toward a declining average age of retirement has reversed itself. The decline started in the 1880s and accelerated in the post World War II era, falling for men from an average age of 70 in 1950 to 62 in 1985. Yet since the mid-1980s increasing numbers of older men and women have kept working. The labor force participation rate for men age 65 has risen 43 percent over the past quarter century. For women 65 and older, the participation rate has nearly doubled over the same period, to 13.4 percent in June 2011.

ON THE POSITIVE SIDE

Working into the traditional retirement years allows savings to compound longer. Workers are healthier and better educated than earlier generations, and it?s easier to toil away in an economy dominated by high-tech gear rather than the assembly line. The financial payoff from staying on the job also comes from higher Social Security benefits. Waiting to file until the full retirement age of 66 increases the benefit by at least a third, compared with taking Social Security at age 62. Wait until age 70 to claim your first benefit check, and it?s at least 75 percent larger. "The era of earlier and earlier retirement is over, and it isn?t coming back," says Joseph Quinn, an economist at Boston College.

Sounds good. The flaw in the new job-tirement message is that America?s Great Job Machine is sputtering. The U.S. economy hasn?t done well at creating jobs for young and old workers alike, let alone jobs with decent pay and benefits. Even before the labor market trauma of the Great Recession, private sector job growth was the weakest in half a century during the business cycle expansion of the 2000s. It increased at an annual 0.6 percent rate, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a shadow of the 1.8 percent annual rate of the ?90s and the 2 percent yearly pace of the ?80s. Jobs remain scarce 26 months after the recession was declared officially over; the U.S. unemployment rate is at 9.2 percent. Much of the work that?s available doesn?t pay well, and unlike their younger workmates, older workers have little time left to climb the corporate ladder of success (or at least get a pay raise).

It?s striking how many older workers are staying on the job. The labor force participation rate?the percentage of the working age population in the labor force?for most middle-aged and younger workers is down since the recession started in December 2007. The same isn?t true for older workers. For instance, among men 55 and older, the labor force participation rate was 46.2 percent in June 2011, up from 45.4 percent in December 2007. The comparable figures for women were 34.6 percent and 33.7 percent, respectively. "Older workers feel the need to stick around," says Brad Chambers, assistant vice-president in Aon Hewitt?s talent and rewards practice. "Organizations want to retain institutional knowledge and experience."

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Emirates to Increase Narita Flights

Emirates is to operate two extra flights a week between Dubai and Narita International Airport in Japan from 1 November 2011.

Emirates has been flying to Narita since launching the route on 28 March, 2010 and will continue to use a Boeing 777-300ER on the route with eight private suites in First Class, 42 seats in Business Class and 304 Economy Class seats for a total of 354 seats; and also 23-tonnes of bellyhold cargo.

EK 318 will depart Dubai at 02:50, touching down at Narita International Airport at 17:35 the same day.

The return flight, EK 319 departs Narita at 22:00 offering passengers to arrive in Dubai at 03:50 the following day.

?Japan is a vital market for Emirates and being able to increase the flights to a daily operation is a great testament to the partnership which has existed since we began operations to Japan, through Osaka, nine years ago,? said Richard Jewsbury, Emirates? Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations, Far East & Australasia. ?In the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake, Emirates continued operating flights to and from Narita as normal without interruption and maintained a service for those passengers who needed to travel during that difficult time. Emirates has been committed to helping Japan through this period of recovery. We appreciate that the Japanese authorities have recognised this commitment and allowed us to operate this daily service?

Since 2002, Emirates has carried over 1.3 million people and 60,000 tonnes of cargo on its flights to Japan.

Dubai is an important hub for the re-export of Japanese manufactured products to the Middle East, Africa and Central Asia. The 23 tonnes of belly-hold cargo capacity will support Japanese exports of mechanical components, electronic goods and automobile parts to the UAE, and its import of gas and oil products.

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Chuka Umunna: Policymakers must hold firm on reform of rating agencies

Competition for lucrative business puts pressure on agency staff to downplay risk and to collude with issuers, particularly when rating elaborate packages of structured debt. Evidence from within agencies bears this out. A 2008 survey of finance professionals by the CFA Institute found that 11pc of respondents had witnessed agencies altering ratings under pressure or influence from outside parties.

Furthermore, in internal correspondence published by US Congressional investigations, agency staff joked that "[a deal] could be structured by cows and we would rate it" and discussed "adjusting", "spinning" and "massaging" ratings methodologies in order to preserve market share.

The fact that around 95pc of the ratings market is controlled by just three agencies (Moody's, S&P and Fitch) does little to promote alternative business models. Indeed, the FCIC report explicitly cites "a lack of market competition due to [agencies'] government-induced oligopoly" in connection with inaccurate risk analyses.

New regulations, in the form of the 2009-10 European reforms and the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act in the US, go some way to improving accountability and transparency. But what is clear from the investigations conducted into the ratings business is that more drastic change is needed.

Without reform of agencies' incentives, greater competition will simply fuel what the US Senate report calls a "race to the bottom" in standards. In November, the European Commission floated a number of options for change, including the creation of a European agency, support for investor-owned agencies, an independent clearing board to allocate ratings business, a network of small and medium-sized agencies and an obligation on institutional investors to obtain their own ratings before purchasing a product. These ideas deserve serious consideration.

As others have said, a publicly funded agency could go some way to mitigate the risks of the issuer-pays system, while in the US the case for a clearing board has already been approved by Senate amendment. Yet the response paper issued in January by the Treasury, the Bank of England and the Financial Services Authority largely rejects these proposals, placing great confidence in the modest, pre-existing EU reforms and calling for a "more narrowly focused" approach to further reform. It asserts that there is "no hard evidence that conflicts of interest in the 'issuer-pays' model lead to ratings inflation", a position inconsistent with the de Larosi�re, US Senate and FCIC reports and above all the massive collapse of AAA-rated securities during the financial crisis.

It is also inconsistent with a recent Bank of England paper that not only argues that "apparent conflicts of interest" need to be addressed, but goes further; exploring options to eliminate them through structural reform of agencies. The paper says the challenges of moving towards an "investor-pays" model "may not be insurmountable", adding the small number of agencies that currently operate this model "seem to have been able to both attract a subscriber base, and to keep ratings information 'private' to subscribers".

In protest at the moves by the Commission, in particular the proposal to make them legally liable for flawed downgrades, the agencies have reportedly threatened a "ratings blackout" of certain countries' sovereign debt. Nonetheless, policymakers must hold firm in their determination to push through reform. The 1997 Asian crash and the 2001 Enron collapse both exposed flaws in the way the agencies operate, yet their power remained unchecked and their failings went unaddressed then. We are well aware what followed in 2008 ? we cannot afford a repeat of that mistake in 2011 and beyond.

? Chuka Umunna is the Member of Parliament for Streatham. He is a member of the House of Commons Treasury Select Committee

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United and Continental Airlines to Resume New York Flights on Monday

United and Continental Airlines are preparing to resume flight departures at noon local time on Monday, 29 August 2011, at its hub at Newark Liberty International Airport, John F. Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia Airport, following the carriers? suspension of operations Saturday and Sunday due to Hurricane Irene.

United and Continental employees from other domestic locations will fly to New York to assist their co-workers in resuming operations at area airports.

In addition, United and Continental will, on Monday, resume service that had been suspended Sunday at several other airports along the East Coast, including White Plains, N.Y., Boston, Mass., Hartford, Conn., Providence, R.I., Portland, Maine, Manchester, N.H., and Albany, N.Y..

United and Continental canceled 2,265 flights on 27 and 28 August and pre-canceled an additional 437 flights for 29 August, due to Hurricane Irene.

The aftermath of Hurricane Irene may force some additional delays and cancellations of scheduled flights to the region on Monday.

United and Continental are encouraging customers to check their specific flight status at the carriers? respective websites prior to heading to the airport.

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Pabst Asked to Lower Alcohol Content in New Blast Drink

Calling the new Blast by Colt 45 beverage a drinking "binge-in-a-can," 16 state attorneys general called on Pabst Brewing Co. to cut the alcohol content in its malt beverage and change its marketing for the drink.

Blast is a malt beverage that comes in four fruit flavors -- strawberry lemonade, blueberry pomegranate, grape and raspberry watermelon. Pabst's marketing campaign features hip-hop/rap music star Snoop Dogg in edgy commercials aimed squarely at the 20-something set. The 23.5-ounce single-serving cans pack an alcohol concentration of 12% -- the equivalent of almost five cans of beer.

Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler penned the letter, which was signed by the other attorneys general and sent to Pabst. "At a time when we're fighting to prevent underage and binge drinking, we call upon Pabst to rethink the dangers posed by Blast, promoted by a popular hip-hop celebrity, as a 'binge-in-a-can' in sweet flavors and bright colors aimed at the youngest drinkers," Gansler said in a statement. "I hope our letter asking Pabst to take swift and responsible action will also be heeded by other companies who produce these unsafe 'supersized' alcopops."

The letter also compared Blast to alcoholic energy drinks that have been criticized over their marketing because they are packaged to look nearly identical to non-alcoholic energy drinks and consumers could unwittingly think they're safe to drink. The alcoholic energy drinks contain both booze and caffeine and the combination masks the effects of alcohol, creating a drunk-awake state. The alcoholic energy drinks are also sold in 23.5-ounce cans -- just like Blast -- and have between 6% and 12% alcohol offered in trendy flavors like watermelon.

Pabst refuted the letter's claims in a statement released by its public relations firm.

"Blast is only meant to be consumed by those above legal drinking age and does not contain caffeine," the company said in the recently released statement. "As with all Pabst products, our marketing efforts for Blast are focused on conveying the message of drinking responsibly. To that end, the alcohol content of Blast is clearly marked on its packaging, we are encouraging consumers to consider mixing Blast with other beverages or enjoy it over ice, and we are offering a special 7-ounce bottle for those who prefer a smaller quantity, among other important initiatives."

Gansler's letter said the level of alcohol in Blast is high enough that if someone drank the entire can, it would be considered binge drinking. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said binge drinkers account for more than half of the 79,000 annual alcohol-related deaths in the United States.

The letter was signed by attorneys general from Arizona, California, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah, Washington and Guam, as well as the city attorney of San Francisco.

California's Marin Institute applauded the letter, which comes on the heels of a petition drive by the alcohol industry watchdog group to stop marketing to youth and to fire Snoop Dogg -- popular with the under-21 crowd -- as its spokesman.

"Unfortunately a number of flavored, malt beverage alcopops are supersized," Marin Institute Executive Director Bruce Lee Livingston said in a statement. "We are hopeful that other attorneys general join this action against Blast, and also include similar dangerous products like Four Loko, Joose and Tilt."

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Robert Vietze, JetBlue Passenger, Pees On 11-Year-Old Girl On Flight (UPDATES)

UPDATE, 8/16: The teenager allegedly caught urinating on a young girl on a JetBlue flight last week was actually relieving himself on the floor, claims the girl's family.

According to The Oregonian, the family released a statement that Robert Vietze was actually peeing on the floor next to their daughter's seat ? not on their daughter.

"While family members have cooperated with authorities in the investigation, they neither welcome nor encourage further publicity," The Oregonian reports. "The family's main concern is the welfare of their daughter."

After being taken into custody Wednesday, Vietze was issued a federal summons for misdemeanor indecent exposure. If convicted, he could face a $1,000 fine and up to a year in prison.

Before flying, Vietze admittedly consumed five to six beers and two rum and cokes before boarding his flight. The alcohol apparently "hit him" while in the air, and he walked to seat 15A (where the girl was sitting) and relieved himself. When confronted by the girl's father, Vietze said "he had an accident," reports the paper.

--------
UPDATE, 8/12: 18-year old Robert Vietze was a member of the U.S. Ski Team. He has seen been kicked off the team. He is (was) considered one of the most elite skiers in the nation.

The New York Post reports that Vietze was returning from a training camp at Oregon's Mount Hood when the incident occurred. Vietze was in the running for the 2014 Olympics, but is name was removed from the team's development roster on Thursday.

"We have no comment, nothing to say," Vietze's mother told reporters outside their Vermont home.

The kicker? Turns out the girl was with her father, a Stage 4 cancer patient, and sister on the way to visit her grandmother in Long Island for the first time since her father's diagnosis.

--------
PREVIOUSLY, 8/11: A drunk male passenger was caught peeing on a sleeping 11-year old girl on a JFK-bound JetBlue flight on Wednesday.

18-year old Robert Vietze of South Warren, Vermont was on a red eye flight from Portland, Oregon when he started peeing on a sleeping 11-year old girl who was traveling with her sister and father, the New York Post reports.

Vietze was drunk, having consumed eight drinks, and stumbled five rows behind him (presumably towards the bathroom?!) when he started peeing on the girl. The girl's family was using the bathroom at the time.

"I was drunk, and I did not realize I was pissing on her leg," the 6-foot-4, 195-pound Vietze told law enforcement.

The unidentified girl's father caught Vietze peeing on his daughter and started screaming, "F--- that kid! I don't want him near my family!" a fellow passenger told the Post.

Flight attendants separated the father and Vietze, whom they moved to the back of the plane. They also tried to clean up the pee with soap from the bathrooms.

Yet the already exciting flight was far from over. An hour before the plane landed, another passenger started complaining of chest pains and vomited. The pilot addressed the plane, asking "Is anybody on this flight a nurse or doctor? We have a medical emergency." Yet no one stepped forward so flight attendants worked to keep him calm.

A witness told the Post that the pilots "kept coming out of the cockpit to talk to the flight crew about what was going on."

Six Port Authority cops greeted the plane when it landed at 6:30am. Two helped the sick passenger while four carted Vietze into custody.

Vietze has been issued a federal summons for indecent exposure.

This is not, surprisingly, the first time a passenger has peed on another under the influence of alcohol. Back in June, a drunk New Zealand man on a Jetstar flight from Auckland to Singapore peed on the plane's carpet, a man's leg and a woman's scarf after drinking whiskey out of Burger King cups with friends. The man, Michael Aitkin, eventually came forward and apologized profusely to his fellow passengers for his actions.

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Toyota Recalls 51,000 Tundra Trucks

Another week, another Toyota recall. Just last week, Toyota recalled 308,000 RAV4s and Highlanders because of a problem with the airbags. This time the automaker has recalled about 51,000 of its 2011 model year Tundra trucks because part of the rear drive shaft can break, the company said.

Toyota estimated that just 0.05% of the trucks -- roughly 26 trucks -- could have a slip yoke that was improperly cast at the foundry and could break. The company said it knows of one drive shaft slip yoke that broke, and in that case, there were no reports of an accident or injury.

Consumers will receive a recall letter beginning in May telling them to take the truck in to a dealer for inspection. If necessary, the rear drive shaft will be replaced for free. Call Toyota at (800) 331-4331 for more information.

The automaker has been plagued with numerous recalls in the past year that have tarnished its once-shiny image for reliability so much that consumers are now starting to say they would be less likely to buy a Toyota.

But Toyota isn't the only car maker who issued recalls in the past week. Nissan recalled almost 200,000 Pathfinders and Infiniti QX4s because there's a possibility that winter road salt could corrode part of the sport utility vehicle's strut housing. This corrosion may lead to the steering column breaking.

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Search continues for missing Yosemite hikers

By Kate Mather Los Angeles Times

1:28 p.m. CDT, July 20, 2011

Three hikers who fell over a popular Yosemite waterfall are presumed dead, park officials said late Wednesday morning.

Hormiz David, 22, of Modesto, Ninos Yacoub, 27, of Turlock and Ramina Badal, 21, of Modesto were on a day trip to Yosemite National Park with friends and family Tuesday afternoon when they climbed over a metal guardrail at the top of Vernal Falls near Curry Village in Yosemite Valley, park officials said.

Witnesses told rangers that several people urged the group to get out of the cold, fast-moving water, but the three were swept over the 317-foot falls.

A search-and-rescue effort lasted until Wednesday morning. Park officials said teams would continue to scour the Merced River for the victims.

The trail leading up to the falls, the Mist Trail, has been reopened after it was closed during the initial search.

There have been six water-related deaths in Yosemite this year, including the latest incident, park officials said. Two hikers drowned in the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir on June 29, and a hiker slipped and fell into the Merced River on the Mist Trail on May 13.

Officials said there were several recorded cases of visitors going over Vernal Falls and other waterfalls in the park.

Because of a larger-than-normal snowpack this winter, rivers and streams in Yosemite and Central California have been especially dangerous in recent months.

Park officials urged visitors to exercise caution when near the park's waterways. Vernal Falls is one of the park's most popular attractions, with about 1,500 visitors making the hike to the top of the waterfall each day.

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Buffett's Berkshire Shares on 'Hold,' at Best

August 04, 2011, 9:05 AM EDT

By Andrew Frye

(Updates with Buffett?s comments on attracting long-term investors in penultimate paragraph.)

Aug. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Warren Buffett?s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. can?t get a buy recommendation from equity analysts, even as it trades in New York at the cheapest price relative to book value since March 2009.

Berkshire fell this week to its lowest since June 2010 and has underperformed the Standard & Poor?s 500 Index over the last 12 months. The company faces a sluggish U.S. economy, declining world equity markets and reinsurance claims tied to Japan?s biggest earthquake. In March, the resignation of David Sokol raised questions about succession for Buffett, the 80-year-old chief executive officer, and Vice Chairman Charles Munger, 87.

?Hopefully we?ll pull out of this, but it looks like it?ll be slow,? said Meyer Shields of Stifel Nicolaus & Co., one of four equity analysts who rates Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire at ?hold? or an equivalent level. ?And every day of slowness, Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger get another day older.? Shields raised his rating to ?hold? from ?sell? in February.

Berkshire investors have trusted Buffett, who?s held the top job since 1970, to boost the share price by picking stocks and making takeovers. The firm hasn?t named a successor or set a timetable for CEO transition. Jay Gelb, who has a ?neutral? rating on Berkshire at Barclays Plc, said in May that Sokol?s exit means ?succession risk is elevated.? Sokol, former chairman of Berkshire?s MidAmerican Energy Holdings, was seen as a possible successor to Buffett before he resigned.

Japan Quake

Berkshire, which may report second-quarter results tomorrow, fell 7.3 percent on the New York Stock Exchange in the last year through yesterday, compared with a 12 percent gain in the S&P 500. The Class A shares dropped 13 percent since the March 11 quake in Japan. The S&P 500?s slide in the same period was 3.4 percent.

?It?s the cheapest that I?ve seen it in a while,? said Tom Lewandowski, an analyst with Edward Jones & Co., who has a ?hold? rating on Berkshire shares. ?It?s hard for me to get really positive on that.?

Berkshire trades at about 1.14 times book value, a measure of assets minus liabilities. That compares with a ratio of 1.04 on March 9, 2009, a day when the S&P 500 fell to its lowest level since September 1996.

Berkshire, which has a market value of about $180 billion, has attracted less attention from brokerages and research firms because its trading volume tends to lag behind that of companies of similar size. Bank of America Corp., the biggest U.S. bank, has ?buy? recommendations from 20 analysts and ?hold? calls from 18. No analyst tracked by Bloomberg advised selling Berkshire or Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America.

Succession Planning

?This is a business that should have a succession plan,? Charles Ortel, managing director of Newport Value Partners, said of Berkshire. ?The market deserves to see what that plan may be.? Ortel doesn?t advise buying the shares. Berkshire said in a February filing that it had identified four candidates to succeed Buffett, without naming them.

The last analyst tracked by Bloomberg to recommend buying Berkshire was Christopher Neczypor of Goldman Sachs Group Inc., who suspended his coverage in October. Berkshire owns warrants to buy $5 billion of shares of New York-based Goldman Sachs. Clifford Gallant, an analyst with KBW Inc., downgraded Berkshire to ?market perform? from ?outperform? in March 2010.

Munger?s View

?Berkshire stock went to a price we never thought,? Munger said at a forum in Pasadena, California, on July 1. The earthquake which struck North of Tokyo cost Berkshire $1.1 billion in the first quarter and was cited by Munger as a cause for the stock decline.

Buffett didn?t respond to a request for an interview e- mailed to his assistant, Carrie Kizer.

Berkshire?s slide has coincided with disappointing data on the U.S. economic recovery and stagnation in major stock indexes from Tokyo to the London. In the last decade, Buffett has used acquisitions and derivatives to bet on the health of the U.S. economy and long-term growth in stocks on three continents.

The U.S. gross domestic product expanded less than expected in the second quarter, while consumer spending fell in June and manufacturing declined last month. Berkshire?s equity-index derivatives, tied to the S&P 500, Japan?s Nikkei 225 Stock Average, the Eurostoxx 50 Index, the U.K.?s FTSE 100, were recorded as a $6.5 billion liability as of March 31. The liability was $7.1 billion a year earlier.

Berkshire doesn?t hold the quarterly earnings conference calls scheduled by most of the largest publicly traded firms to update Wall Street analysts. Buffett has said his goal is to attract long-term investors and not to maximize the price at which Berkshire?s shares trade.

Church, School

?We don?t understand the CEO who wants lots of stock activity,? Buffett said in the letter accompanying Berkshire?s 1988 annual report. ?For that can be achieved only if many of his owners are constantly exiting. At what other organization - school, club, church, etc. - do leaders cheer when members leave??

Buffett said on Jan. 20, 2010, that Berkshire was ?undervalued? in the market. That day, Class A shares traded between $100,000 and $105,001. The stock closed yesterday at $110,957.

--Editors: Dan Reichl, Dan Kraut

To contact the reporter on this story: Andrew Frye in New York at afrye@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dan Kraut at dkraut2@bloomberg.net.

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HSBC Sponsors Hong Kong National Rugby Teams

HSBC has signed on as the new principal partner of Hong Kong?s Men?s and Women?s National Rugby Teams. As part of the sponsorship, the HSBC logo will feature on the official national rugby jerseys of Hong Kong.

The sponsorship extends across the HKRFU Men?s and Women?s Senior and age-grade National Teams and runs for a four-year period.

The latest sponsorship of the Hong Kong teams extends HSBC?s support to rugby in Hong Kong after becoming the co-title sponsor of the world-renowned Hong Kong Sevens in May 2011.

After a successful campaign in the HSBC Asian Five Nations 2011, the Hong Kong Men?s National team is currently ranked second overall in Asia at fifteens rugby and is tied-third in sevens behind Korea and Japan. The Hong Kong Women?s Team is the current bronze medalist in the East Asian Games and was the fourth-placed team in the Asian Games.

Hong Kong Rugby Football Union Chairman, Trevor Gregory, said, ?The HKRFU is delighted to welcome HSBC on board as the principal partner of our national rugby teams. The sponsorship further deepens our relationship with one of Hong Kong?s iconic companies and I am confident that together with the support of HSBC, the HKRFU will continue to make great strides in developing Rugby in Hong Kong ... The support from HSBC across all levels will help our National Teams continue to meet their performance goals as we look ahead to building on our position in Asia and continue to prepare for events like the Rugby World Cup Sevens in 2013.?

Mark McCombe, CEO of HSBC Hong Kong, added, ?HSBC is extremely proud of its Hong Kong heritage and we are delighted to come on board as the shirt sponsor of the Hong Kong team, as part of our long-term commitment to rugby here and across the region ... With HSBC as the co-title sponsor of the Cathay Pacific / HSBC Hong Kong Sevens once again, we have a tremendous opportunity to build real pride and loyalty in the Hong Kong shirt, starting with this weekend?s Shanghai Sevens, the opening event of the HSBC Asian Sevens Series. It also marks the beginning of the teams? journey towards next year?s Hong Kong Sevens, as we increasingly encourage the broader Hong Kong community to support their team.?

The sponsorship timing is appropriate as the Hong Kong Rugby Football Union National Men?s and Women?s Sevens teams are off to Shanghai to take part in the Shanghai Sevens this weekend (August 27 -28 at the Yuanshen Stadium in Shanghai).

The Shanghai Sevens is the first event in the inaugural HSBC Asian Sevens Series 2011, which will feature four events in 2011. The Hong Kong Men?s team will take part in all four events.

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