While You Were Watching Television

Merck plan to cut 12K more jobs aims to save $1.5B Read more: Merck plan to cut 12K more jobs aims to save $1.5B

The company plans to slash its workforce by another 12,000 to 13,000 jobs, as part of a plan to squeeze another $1.5 billion from its annual cost base.
Word on the street had been that Merck planned to shed more jobs, but these are numbers approaching the 15,000 to 16,000 workforce cuts announced along with the Schering deal, which closed in November 2009.... Merck will have cut about 30% of the workforce it had at that time.

The new round will hit hard in the United States. Some 35% to 40% of the cuts will be concentrated in the company's U.S. operations, a Merck spokesperson told Dow Jones. Layoffs will come at headquarters, in administrative functions, via consolidation of office facilities, and from the ongoing sale and closure of manufacturing plants.

Bank of Korea buys gold

The Bank of Korea said Tuesday it increased the amount of gold held as part of the country's foreign exchange reserves for the first time in 13 years, diversifying its portfolio away from the dollar and toward an investment class widely considered a safer bet during crises.

The central bank bought 25 metric tons of gold from the global market between June and July, bringing its total gold reserves to 39.4 tons as of the end of July, the BOK said in a statement.

Bank of Korea says it bought gold in June-July

* It declined to say if it plans to buy more gold

Swiss Franc update:

1 CHF = 1.2801 USD -0.00017 (-0.013%)
Aug 2, 2:00PM GMT+00:00

Remember anything could happen; the Swiss central bank could start massive currency intervention to resist this relentless relative strenghtening of the CHF

Libya confusion, NATO stuck in mire

Younes was the first high Gaddafi government official to defect to the rebel cause last February. Prior to his defection, Younes had been number two in the Libyan power establishment. A close associate of Gaddafi for almost forty years, he was serving as his former boss’ interior minister when he became one of the earliest and most important government figures to desert.
Gaddafi had sent Younes to Benghazi last February to deal with the uprising. But rather than carry out a counter-revolutionary purge with the military unit he had brought with him that would have seen many people killed and the city probably severely damaged, Younes decided to join the rebel cause. For their part, the rebels overlooked the fact Younes had served Gaddafi loyally for decades.
“The rebels closed both eyes, hoping other high-ranking Gaddafi people would follow the prominent deserter,” stated one German publication.