LG Electronics Develops U.S. Mobile TV Technology

(Bloomberg) -- LG Electronics Inc., South Korea's second-largest electronics maker, said it developed technology that may encourage U.S. consumers to watch digital television programs on mobile phones, laptops and car navigation systems.

The Mobile Pedestrian Handheld technology will be demonstrated at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas starting tomorrow, Kim Gyeong Whan, a spokesman at Seoul-based LG, said today by telephone. Portable devices equipped with MPH chips can display live TV broadcasts in cars traveling as fast as 90 kilometers (56 miles) per hour, according to LG.

The technology is cheaper to adopt than rival systems because it lets stations use existing airwaves, LG said. The company estimates the North American mobile TV market will expand 33 percent to $3.2 billion next year after growing 50 percent in 2008 as federal law requires U.S. broadcasters to convert to digital transmissions by February 2009

 

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Trade Deficit Probably Widened on Oil: U.S. Economy Preview

(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. trade deficit probably widened in November as Americans spent a record amount on imported oil, economists said a report this week may show.

The gap between imports and exports expanded to $59.5 billion, a five-month high, according to the median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News ahead of the Commerce Department's Jan. 11 report. Earlier in the week, a private report may show a decline in contracts to buy existing homes.

The trade report is also likely to show exports continued to increase, preventing a steeper decline in manufacturing. Sales to customers overseas are even more important now that rising fuel prices, a deepening housing slump and rising unemployment threaten to stall economic growth.

 

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US STOCKS-Market sinks as jobs data stirs recession fears

(Reuters) - U.S. stocks tumbled on Friday, dragging the Dow to its worst three-day start to a year since the Great Depression, as a sharp rise in the unemployment rate heightened fears the economy is heading into a recession.

Technology shares were the worst performer in a broad-based decline after chip maker Intel Corp skidded 8.1 percent on concerns that businesses are unlikely to upgrade computer equipment in the face of a slowdown.

The Nasdaq fell 3.77 percent, bringing the index to its worst three-day kick-off to a new year since it was created in 1971.

The U.S. Labor Department reported job creation nearly ground to a halt in December and unemployment rose to a two-year high of 5 percent.

"The payroll numbers are showing that we don't have the jobs, and if you don't have job income you don't have consumers doing any spending," said Gary Shilling, president of A. Gary Shilling & Co. of Springfield, New Jersey. "I don't think there's much question we're in a recession now."

 

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