Santorum celebrates

It's all smiles for the biggest winner on the trail tonight, Thomson Reuters: Reuters Insider
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Market Pulse: Germany sells €3.3 billion of 5-year debt

Market Pulse: Germany sells €3.3 billion of 5-year debt, Thomson Reuters: Reuters Insider
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US FX OPEN: Euro gains as Greek hopes boost risk appetite - IFR

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Market Briefs

• Greek optimism supports Euro despite lack of real news
• Euro hits fresh 2012 & 2-Mth highs against Dollar
• German exports post steepest drop in nearly 3-Yrs
• German December S/A Trade Surplus EUR 13.9Bln
• Sterling hits 3-Mth high vs Dollar, BoE QE awaited
• Swiss Franc slips vs Euro, EUR/CHF rebounds into 1.21s
• Swiss January Unemployment hits 10-Mth high at 3.4%
• CEE FX supported by risk appetite, Zloty eyes NBP verdict
• Aussie rises to 6-Mth highs as Greek hopes boost risk
• Risk boost underpins Asian FX but intervention limits gains
• PBOC Yuan fix in focus ahead of Xi Jinping US visit

Looking Ahead - Economic Data

* 12:00 US Weekly Mortgage Market Index, 753.3 pvs
    * 13:15 Canadian January Housing Starts, 195k exp 200k pvs

FX ZAR BRIEFING: USD/ZAR scope for 7.4650 - IFR

LONDON, Feb 8 (IFR) - See TGM2423 for more. The market has extended below 7.5220 (2011 low, posted February 3) which unlocks 7.4650 (September 19 2011 low) for an eventual retest. As the rand is an obvious risk asset, further improvements in sentiment has led to these falls in USD/ZAR. Q4 unemployment rate has surprised by falling to 23.9% on Tuesday, it was expected to edge higher to 25.7% from 25.0% in Q3. Today January business confidence fell slightly to 97.1 from 99.1. Martin.Miller@thomsonreuters.com

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New York Giants Ride Salsa Dancer Cruz’s Second Chance to Super Bowl Title

Pamela Marsh-Williams considers herself an expert on the academic, not the athletic. Yet the assistant provost and dean for undergraduate advising at the University of Massachusetts said she knew what the outcome would be when the New England Patriots gave Victor Cruz a second chance in the Super Bowl.

“You should know, everyone should know, that Victor has the skill and determination to do what is needed to get the job done,” Marsh-Williams said via telephone from her Amherst, Massachusetts, home minutes after Cruz’s New York Giants defeated the New England Patriots, 21-17, in the Super Bowl.

New York’s first seven points were the product of a tight spiral from Super Bowl Most Valuable Player Eli Manning to Cruz, who again got there the hard way.

Cruz had the football in his hands, and then he didn’t. The Giants were driving when his first-quarter fumble at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis was recovered by the Patriots.

This time, Cruz, 25, got a reprieve. It was a second chance born from a too-many-men-on-the-field penalty against the usually disciplined Patriots.

Two plays, two yards and a quick slant later and Cruz was in the end zone, displaying his signature salsa celebration dance.

“I was so happy when Victor scored,” said Marsh-Williams, whose rooting interest was divided between Cruz and Patriots safety James Ihedigbo, also a former UMass player who was covering Cruz on the touchdown play. “It’s an extraordinary story.”

Cruz, a second-year wide receiver at UMass, ran into academic trouble: He was not only kicked off the football team, but dismissed from the university for failing to meet academic standards.

Meeting With Mom

The player scheduled a meeting with Marsh-Williams, whose job it was to inform Cruz and his mother, Blanca, who had driven from her Paterson, New Jersey, home that the decision was final.

“I felt badly for his mother,” Marsh-Williams said. “She was literally distraught and felt that her son had let her down. Never did I think he’d come back.”

He did make it back, taking a circuitous route to the National Football League via Passaic County Community College. When asked about the meeting with Marsh-Williams, Cruz last week recounted it in detail. He remembered his mother’s anguish most of all. And then he parroted the educator’s message.

“A real hard-nosed person,” said Cruz, who finished the Super Bowl with four catches, including the touchdown.

Taking Responsibility

Marsh-Williams told Cruz to grow up and take responsibility, to reassess the opportunity he’d been given to get an education. Mostly, however, she pressed Cruz to consider the sacrifices made by his mother, the woman who feared that absent a college degree he’d wind up back in Paterson, where, as he put it, opportunity doesn’t always knock.

“It was time to stop making excuses,” said Cruz, who joined the Giants as an undrafted free agent.

Giants General Manager Jerry Reese said neither he nor his scouts saw anything special in Cruz.

“Just a local free agent, that’s all,” Reese said. “Anyone who tries to tell you differently is lying.”

Cruz developed into one of Manning’s favorite targets this season. He caught a team-leading 82 passes for a Giants- best 1,536 yards and nine touchdowns, each of them followed by a salsa as a tribute to his mother’s Puerto Rican heritage.

Cruz, who turned down an invitation to appear on the television program “Dancing with the Stars,” instead has the stars talking about his dancing.

During her press conference this week Madonna, who performed at halftime, said she was inspired by Cruz.

Educator’s Reaction

As for Marsh-Williams, whose nerves wouldn’t allow her to watch the waning minutes of the Super Bowl, she’s happy to have played a role in helping to mold the man more than the receiver.

She said she wants the story of Cruz to be told. Again and again.

“I’m certain that more and more players, more and more kids, will put the work in on the field and off the field,” she said. “I never thought he’d make it back to school. Look at him now.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Scott Soshnick in New York at ssoshnick@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Sillup at msillup@bloomberg.net NI NFL NI IN NI PATRIOTS NI MA NI NFLGIANTS NI NY

Super Bowl Sets TV Record: 111.3M Viewers

The New York Giants’ 21-17 win over the New England Patriots in last night’s Super Bowl was seen by an average of 111.3 million people, the biggest audience in U.S. television history, according Comcast Corp. (CMCSA)’s NBC network.

The viewership total for the game at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis narrowly topped last year’s record of 111 million for the Green Bay Packers’ Super Bowl win over the Pittsburgh Steelers, NBC said in a news release.

The game was seen in an average of 47 percent of U.S. homes, the best rating since 1986 when the Chicago Bears’ win over the Patriots drew a 48.3 rating. Yesterday’s 47 rating is the sixth highest in Super Bowl history.

This was the seventh straight year of Super Bowl-record viewership. It peaked at 117.7 million during its final half- hour, as the Giants’ Eli Manning directed a late-game touchdown drive that gave New York the lead, and a desperation game-ending throw to the end zone by New England’s Tom Brady fell incomplete. It was the Giants’ fourth Super Bowl title and second in five years.

An average of 114 million viewers watched the halftime show that featured Madonna, the most for a championship halftime show that featured entertainment, which dates back to 1991. More than four million fewer people watched the Black Eyed Peas at halftime a year ago.

The Giants’ Super Bowl victory in many ways mirrored their upset 17-14 win over New England in the 2008 title game, as Manning led late-game touchdown drives in both contests. Yesterday’s game had a 14 percent higher rating.

The average 30-second commercial during last night’s game sold for $3.5 million, according to NBC.

To contact the reporter on this story: Mason Levinson in New York atmlevinson@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Sillup at msillup@bloomberg.net.

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