Brigitte notes

Motorola uses Google’s Android software to power its smartphones. The Razr, sporting Corning glass, will be able to download movies from Netflix Inc and comes with front-facing and back-facing cameras.The phone, unveiled days after Apple Inc’s iPhone 4S hit markets, is the latest iteration of a line-up that helped stage a recovery for Motorola after years of market share losses.

However, Morrisons and Asda may be interested only in a parcel of stores, which mean they might team up with other parties.Morrisons, Asda and Landsbanki, which along with fellow failed Icelandic bank Glitnir is selling a combined 77 percent stake in Iceland Foods, declined to comment.It was unclear whether Iceland Foods’ founder and chief executive, Malcolm Walker, would be involved in the first round of bidding.Walker, who along with other managers owns a 23 percent stake, has a pre-emption right, which means he only has to match the highest bid to win the auction.A person close to the matter said he had been talking to a number of parties about potentially teaming up with them but had not yet made a decision.The auction is being managed by UBS and Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

* Debt panel has tall task before looming deadlineBy Pedro Nicolaci da CostaWASHINGTON, Oct 14 (Reuters) - The U.S. budget gap widened slightly in fiscal 2011, staying above $1 trillion for a third straight year and providing fodder for a political battle over taxes and spending ahead of next year’s presidential election.The Treasury Department report on Friday comes just over two months after an epic showdown over the nation’s debt ceiling that pushed the United States close to a debt default and led to a downgrade of America’s prized AAA credit rating.The shortfall in September, the final month of the fiscal year, widened to $64.57 billion compared to the same month a year earlier, although it came in at a few billion dollars less than economists had projected. The annual deficit was $1.299 trillion, up from 1.294 trillion in fiscal 2010.The U.S. economy, the world’s largest, has escaped the painful sovereign debt crisis the euro zone is now suffering, although the deterioration in its fiscal stance has roiled domestic politics.Many experts argue anemic U.S. growth and a dire job market call for near-term fiscal stimulus or, at the very least, restraint in implementing spending cuts.President Barack Obama has proposed a $447 billion plan to create jobs, but it was rejected by the Senate this week and now lawmakers are trying to pick up the pieces.Republicans in Congress have been pushing hard for deep spending cuts to address the budget gap.While the budget deficit widened in dollar terms in the latest fiscal year, it narrowed to 8.7 percent of U.S. gross domestic product from 9 percent in fiscal 2010. Economists say the GDP gauge is a more meaningful metric than the size of the budget shortfall measured in dollars.U.S. GDP expanded under 1 percent in the first half of the year while unemployment has remained stuck above 9 percent for several months, raising fears of a new recession. Such concerns recently prompted Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, to warn lawmkers during testimony earlier this month that sharp reductions in government spending at a time of fragile recovery could be dangerous.”(A) factor likely to weigh on the U.S. recovery is the increasing drag being exerted by the government sector,” Bernanke told the Joint Economic Committee of Congress.Even as he called for steps to bring the long-term deficit under control, the Fed chief urged legislators to “avoid fiscal actions that could impede the ongoing economic recovery.”After the debt ceiling fiasco in August, Congress created a special deficit panel charged with reaching a deal to cut $1.2 trillion over the next decade by Nov. 23. If they fail, automatic budget cuts will be triggered starting in 2013 that would cut funding to selected agencies and programs across the board and hit defense spending hard.

Citigroup’s economic surprise index for U.S. economic data may be about to yield a nasty one for stock market bulls. The measure turned positive for the first time since April 29 when the Standard & Poor’s 500 index closed at its highest level for the year so far. That’s a bad thing: it means the equity market, which is poised for its second week of gains since July, may be getting ahead of itself in pricing in good news. The latest U.S. economic readings including the September payroll report, while not stellar, have generally come in stronger or less weak than forecast. The Citigroup index gauges whether the actual data surpass or miss market expectations. Its rise leaves investors all too exposed to bad news.