Stock index futures trade flat to higher

LONDON (Reuters) – Stock index futures pointed to a flat-to-higher open on Wall Street on Wednesday, consolidating gains after the S&P 500′s best two-day run in a month.

* Futures for the S&P 500 were unchanged, while Dow Jones and Nasdaq 100 contracts rose 0.2 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively, at 0924 GMT.

* Japan’s Nikkei <.n225> jumped 2.4 percent to end above 10,000 for the first time in more than eight months on Wednesday on growing expectations of easier monetary policy under a new government.</.n225>

* European shares continued to drift higher as expectations built that a budget deal in the United States is close, though traders reckoned any positive outcome is largely baked into the price.

* The U.S. Commerce Dept. releases housing starts and permits for November at 1330 GMT. Economists in a Reuters survey forecast 873,000 housing starts in November versus 894,000 in October, and a total of 875,000 building permits in November compared with 868,000 in the prior month.

* FedEx, the No. 2 U.S. package-delivery company, is due to report second-quarter results at 1230 GMT. It is expected to post earnings per share of $ 1.41 down from $ 1.57 one year earlier, as a weakening economy leads corporate customers to choose slower, cheaper and less profitable ways of shipping goods.

* Industrial machinery maker SPX Corp is closing in on a roughly $ 4.2 billion deal to buy rival Gardner Denver Inc , as it makes progress in securing financing, a source familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.

* U.S. securities regulators on Tuesday outlined potential ways to reduce conflicts of interest at the country’s largest credit-rating agencies, Moody’s Corp , McGraw-Hill Cos Inc’s Standard & Poor’s, and Fimalac SA’s Fitch.

* Google‘s Motorola Mobility unit cannot assert a patent against Apple Inc which covers a sensor that stops phone users from dialing wrong numbers on touchscreen devices, a U.S. trade judge ruled.

* The Federal Trade Commission is unlikely to finish its investigation before January into whether Google Inc abused its power in the search market, the New York Times reported, citing people briefed on the investigation.

* Oracle Corp’s quarterly profit beat Wall Street expectations on strong software sales growth, suggesting that the approach of the “fiscal cliff” has yet to crimp corporate spending on technology.

* Pharma group Pfizer plans to cut about 20 percent of its sales force for primary-care drugs, Bloomberg News reported, as the pharmaceutical company copes with the loss of a patent for top-selling cholesterol drug Lipitor.

* Time Warner Cable , the second-largest cable TV distributor in the United States, said on Tuesday it is planning to drop arts-focused cable channel Ovation, citing its low ratings relative to the cost of carrying the network.

* Accenture, the technology outsourcing and consulting company, reports first quarter results after the market close.

* The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> rose 115.57 points, or 0.87 percent, to 13,350.96 on Tuesday. The S&P 500 <.spx> gained 16.43 points, or 1.15 percent, to 1,446.79. The Nasdaq Composite <.ixic> added 43.93 points, or 1.46 percent, to 3,054.53.</.ixic></.spx></.dji>

(Reporting By Francesco Canepa; editing by Patrick Graham)

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Biggest Tax Relief for West? Falling Oil Prices

(New York Mercantile Exchange: @CL.1) could fall by more than $ 10 per barrel in 2013, boosting gross domestic product across the Western world, according to Henry Dixon, a founding member of investment firm Matterley.

“The message we are getting from the futures market is that oil should be $ 10 to $ 15 lower,” Dixon told CNBC.

“I think political tensions in Iran, and probably in Syria, will keep it a little higher. If we were to get $ 10 off the oil price, it broadly equates to about a 1 percent GDP surprise in the Western world.”

(New York Mercantile Exchange: @CL.1) traded at $ 87.81 on Tuesday, having closed the previous session at $ 87.20. Prices are down 11.2 percent since the start of the year.

(Read More: Gas Prices Hit New 2012 Low)

Dixon said the falling price of oil was due to an increase in oil finds outside of OPEC(Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries), coupled with decreasing demand.

“We see falling U.S. demand and rising supply. We see miles driven in the U.S. falling, as there is a modal shift to the cities.”

He added: “I can envisage a scenario where the biggest 40-year tax on the West, i.e. elevated oils since the mid-70s, could be coming to an end.”

Earlier on Tuesday, Steen Jakobsen, chief economist at Saxo Bank, told CNBC the “revolution” in shale gas in the U.S. could push WTI (West Texas Intermediate) crude down to $ 50.

(Read More: Is 2013 the Year of $ 50 Oil and $ 1,200 Gold?)

Sabine Schels, senior director and global commodity strategist at BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research, agreed.

“We have a unique situation in that the U.S. is producing way more oil than anyone thought they would. That will be a downward pressure, along with slowing global growth,” Schels told CNBC.

“We could have energy costs go down net-net for consumers, and that is what the world needs right now,” he added.

However, Schels warned that gains to the Western world could be accompanied by increased geopolitical tension elsewhere.

“The political danger here is that the Saudis need $ 85-90 a barrel to keep their balance in check, so this could have huge implications for the Middle East.”

Dixon added that boosts to the U.K. economy in 2013 will come not only from falling oil prices, but also from increased capital investment and higher disposable income.

“Our Chancellor of the Exchequer has done a good job with raising the tax threshold in the U.K. That means for the first year in five, U.K. disposable income will be up, not down,” Dixon said. The minimum threshold for paying income tax in the U.K. has risen from 6,475 pounds ($ 10,519) to 8,105 pounds under the current finance minister George Osborne.

Dixon said: “I think the other thing the Chancellor did a very good job of in the Budget was to raise capital allowances by a factor of 10.”

In his Autumn Budget, Osborne increased the Annual Investment Allowance (a capital allowance offering 100 percent tax relief on qualifying expenditure) from 25,000 pounds to 250,000 pounds, having previously cut it from 100,000 pounds.

The U.K. has enjoyed a respite from falling GDP in recent months, but the country’s independent forecasting body, the Office of Budget Responsibility, forecasts a 0.1 percent decline for the economy in the fourth quarter 2012, compared to the previous quarter.

- By CNBC’s Katy Barnato

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Stock futures set to gain for a third day, Oracle rallies

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock futures rose on Wednesday as the latest offers in ongoing U.S. budget negotiations underlined hopes for a deal, while technology shares were lifted by strong results from Oracle.

The S&P 500 is on track to extend its best two-day run in a month, a sign that investors are looking past the "fiscal cliff," a combination of tax hikes and spending cuts many fear could push the economy into recession if they take effect next year.

President Barack Obama's most recent offer to Republicans in the ongoing fiscal talks made concessions on taxes and social programs spending, amid concerns from Senate Democrats. House Speaker John Boehner said he remained hopeful about an agreement, though the offer was "not there yet."

"Both Obama and Boehner have been making concessions, suggesting a deal will get done before the deadline, resulting in an acceleration in stock buying," said Adam Sarhan, chief executive of Sarhan Capital in New York.

Tech shares will be in focus a day after Oracle Corp reported earnings that beat expectations on strong software sales growth. Shares rose 2.1 percent to $33.56 in premarket trading.

FedEx Corp reported second-quarter revenue that beat expectations, but said its earnings in the quarter had been impacted by Superstorm Sandy. Shares were slightly lower in light premarket trading.

S&P 500 futures rose 2.7 points and were above fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures added 37 points and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 10.5 points.

The S&P has gained 2.3 percent over the past two sessions, the first time it has notched two straight days of 1 percent gains since late July. Markets have been supported by any indication agreement might be reached, with banks and energy shares- groups that outperform during periods of economic expansion - leading gains.

"We've been breaking above levels of resistance, including the 50-day moving average and the November high, so from a technical standpoint we're seeing a lot of improvement," Sarhan said. "We're set up for a strong 2013."

Trading volume has been light ahead of the holidays and as some caution remains over the cliff. Equities have struggled to gain ground in recent weeks amid signs there was little room for compromise between the two political parties.

November housing starts are scheduled for release at 8:30 a.m. (1330 GMT). Economists in a Reuters survey forecast 873,000 housing starts in November versus 894,000 in October.

General Mills Inc reported earnings that beat expectations and raised its full-year profit view, citing a recent acquisition which lifted sales.

Knight Capital Group agreed to be sold to Getco Holding Company LLC in a deal valuing Knight at about $1.4 billion. Shares of Knight rose more than 6 percent in premarket trading before being halted.

Industrial machinery maker SPX Corp is closing in on a roughly $4.2 billion deal to buy rival Gardner Denver Inc , as it makes progress in securing financing, a source familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.

(Editing by Bernadette Baum)

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Gun violence a 'national security issue'

An AR-15 style rifle is for sale at shop in Illinois. Peter Bergen says the founders did not envision weapons of this type while crafting the Second Amendment.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Peter Bergen: Gun violence is sometimes called a public health issue in the U.S.


• He says it also amounts to a national security issue, taking much larger toll than terrorism


• Civilians are more likely to get killed in some U.S. cities than Afghani civilians are, he says


• Bergen: Medical techniques taken from Afghan war being used to save civilians in U.S.

Editor's note: Peter Bergen is a CNN national security analyst and author of "Manhunt: The Ten-Year Search for bin Laden, from 9/11 to Abbottabad" and "The Longest War: America's Enduring Conflict with al-Qaeda."

(CNN) -- The proliferation of semiautomatic weapons in the hands of Americans of the types that were used in the Newtown massacre is sometimes framed as a public health issue in the United States.

There is considerable merit to the notion of treating gun violence as a public health matter. After all, homicides -- around 70% of which are accomplished with firearms in the United States according to an authoritative study by the United Nations -- are the 15th leading cause of death for Americans.

Peter Bergen

But framing gun control as a public health issue doesn't quite do justice to the problem. It's probably more or less inevitable that most Americans will die of cancer or a heart attack, but why is it even plausible that so many Americans in elementary schools, colleges, movie theaters and places of worship should die at the hands of young men armed with semiautomatic weapons?

Americans generally regard themselves as belonging to an exceptional nation. And in terms of living in a religiously tolerant and enormously diverse country, Americans can certainly take some justified pride.

That tolerant pluralism was on display Sunday night at the interfaith memorial service for the 27 victims in Newtown, which featured priests from several Christian denominations, clerics of the Muslim and Baha'i faiths as well as a rabbi, a memorial that was led by the country's first African American president. But there is another side to American exceptionalism that many Americans seem strangely unable to recognize: Americans kill each other with guns at rates that are unheard of in other advanced industrialized countries. Britain, with around a fifth of the population of the United States, had 41 gun murders in 2010 while the States had around 10,000.

The scale of this death toll really resembles a national security problem as much it does a public health issue.

Consider that jihadist terrorists have only been able to kill 17 Americans in the United States since 9/11. Meanwhile, some 88,000 Americans died in gun violence from 2003 and 2010, according to the U.N. study.

That means that in the past decade, an American residing in the United States was around 5,000 times more likely to be killed by a fellow citizen armed with a gun than by a terrorist inspired by Osama bin Laden.

Consider also that there are cities in the United States today that exact a higher civilian death toll from violence than the war that is going on in Afghanistan.

Last year, some 3,000 Afghan civilians died in the Afghan War out of a population of 30 million, which makes the civilian death rate from the Afghan war 1 in 10,000.

Yet residents of New Orleans are being killed at a rate that is six times that of Afghan civilians killed in that war. New Orleans had 199 murders last year, or 6 for every 10,000 residents.

Washington, D.C., where I write this from, had 108 murders last year or 2 for every 10,000 residents, making it twice as deadly as the Afghan War is for civilians.

The numbers of Americans dying in homicidal gun violence would be even worse if it weren't for the fact that some of the techniques the U.S. military has learned on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan have been imported into American hospitals. So while the number of gun-related violent incidents has actually almost doubled in the past decade, you are more likely to survive a gun shot today than would have been the case even a few years ago, as the Wall Street Journal recently reported.

Legislation to control the spread of deadly semiautomatic weapons will not, of course, eliminate such violence. Critics of efforts to tighten gun laws can point to Norway, which has very tough gun control laws, and yet Anders Breivik was able to acquire semiautomatic weapons and kill dozens of people in and around Oslo last year.

But Breivik was, in fact, an exceptional case and the murder rate in Norway is still eight times lower than in the U.S.

The Second Amendment is, of course, very much part of the American fabric. But the intent of the founders was that the amendment protected the rights of citizens to bear arms in a militia for their collective self-defense.

Today, we are not likely to need to organize local militias for our defense now we have something called the Pentagon.

Semiautomatic handguns and semiautomatic assault rifles that fire many rounds in a minute were not envisaged by the founders nor do they do much more to enhance self-defense than an ordinary pistol or rifle.

Such semiautomatic weapons also are not much use for hunting deer and the like. But they are very good for killing lots of Americans quickly.

If the murder of 20 small children in Newtown is not an opportunity for the country to challenge the theological position of the gun lobby that the Second Amendment allows pretty much any American to possess military-style weaponry, when will that day ever come?

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Ricky Gervais in negotiations for “The Muppets” sequel

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Ricky Gervais is in negotiations to star in “The Muppets” sequel at Disney, a representative for the actor told TheWrap.

Ty Burrell was cast in the film earlier this month after Christoph Waltz dropped out.

James Bobin, who directed the 2011 Muppets film, is directing the sequel, which he co-wrote with Nicholas Stoller.

Filming is expected to begin in Europe early next year.

The 2011 “Muppets” feature made $ 88 million at the U.S. box office.

David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman are producing the sequel.

Gervais’ recent credits include “Spy Kids: All the Time in the World in 4D.” His upcoming films include “The Wind in the Willows.”

He is represented by WME and United Agents.

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Comet stores open for final day

18 December 2012 Last updated at 02:45 ET

Comet stores are to close their doors for the last time on Tuesday, bringing the failed electrical retailer’s 79-year history to an end.

Of the 236 stores the firm presided over when it went into administration last month, only 49 are still open.

On Monday, administrators Deloitte said unsecured creditors would get back less than 1% of the money owed to them.

The chain’s collapse will also cost the government £49.4m in redundancy payments and foregone tax revenues.

The redundancy money owed to thousands of former Comet workers totals £23.2m and will be paid by the government’s Redundancy Payments Service (RPS).

Meanwhile, £26.2m is owed in taxes to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), which is one of dozens of unsecured creditors of the retailer who are owed a total of £233m, none of which will be repaid.

Other unsecured lenders reportedly include landlords owed £135m in rents and other claims, manufacturers unable to reclaim goods delivered to Comet on credit worth £6m, and various other claimants owed £66m, such as ITV and Google, which had reportedly not been paid for advertising.

Big losses

The total hole in Comet’s balance sheet by the time it was wound up had reached £311m, according to Deloitte’s estimations.

Comet’s secured lenders will also be stung by the firm’s failure, receiving only £50m of the £145m they are owed, as the assets on which their debts were secured could not be sold off at a high enough price.

The company’s main secured lender is Hailey, the company set up by private equity firm OpCapita in order to buy up Comet from Anglo-French retail group Kesa last year for a nominal £1 payment.

Continue reading the main story

Founded in 1933 as a business charging radio batteries

Opened its first store in Hull in 1968

Bought by Woolworths and B&Q owner Kingfisher in 1984, which expanded Comet into one of the UK’s best-known retail brands

In 2003 Comet became part of Kesa Electricals, after Kesa was demerged from Kingfisher

It was announced in November 2011 that Comet would be sold to private equity group OpCapita for just £1

OpCapita was also given £50m by Kesa as part of the deal

However, OpCapita failed to turn around Comet’s fortunes, as the company continued to suffer from the fall in UK consumer spending during the recession and the big growth in online rivals.

Deloitte also revealed on Monday that Comet’s losses in the year to April totalled £95m, while its revenues slumped by £200m.

In the subsequent five months, Comet lost a further £31m.

Towards the end, insurers refused to guarantee suppliers, who in turn refused to extend credit on sales to Comet in the run-up to the crucial Christmas sales period.

Comet’s demise is one of the biggest High Street casualties of recent years.

The 236-store business, which at the time employed about 7,000 people, was founded in Hull in 1933 and began life selling batteries and radios.

The closure of the final Comet stores comes after Deloitte failed to find a buyer for the company.

It is unclear what will become of the Comet brand, with one possibility being a sale to an online retailer, similar to the fate of Woolworths.

Kesa Electricals was renamed Darty in July this year.

Despite having its headquarters in London, it focuses on the continental market – especially France, where it has more than 200 stores under the Darty name.

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Parents await fate of four key tax breaks

As the countdown to a fiscal cliff reaches its final days, four key tax breaks for parents are hanging in the balance.

Lawmakers and President Obama continue to butt heads about which tax cuts should be extended. And unless a deal is inked by the end of the year, the Child Tax Credit, Earned Income Tax Credit, Child and Dependent Care Credit and the American Opportunity Credit will revert to lower levels on Jan. 1.

If this happens, many families will be worse off by hundreds — or even thousands — of dollars, according to Roberton Williams, a senior fellow at the Tax Policy Center.

Some families could take a hit on several fronts if they typically qualify for more than one tax break.

For example, a low-income couple with three kids will lose as much as $ 1,500 from expiring provisions of the Child Tax Credit. If their income is low enough, they could also see a smaller refund from the Earned Income Tax Credit, and benefits from the Child and Dependent Care Credit could be reduced as well.

1. Child Tax Credit

The Child Tax Credit allows lower-income parents to claim as much as $ 1,000 for each child under age 17.

Under the Bush tax cuts, the maximum value of the credit was doubled to $ 1,000. Obama’s 2010 Tax Relief Act then extended the credit until the end of this year and made it so families whose income tax is lower than the credit’s value could receive more of the credit in a cash refund once any tax liability is zeroed out. The credit phases out for married couples whose income is $ 110,000 or for single people with income of $ 75,000 or more.

Should the Bush and Obama provisions expire, the tax break will drop back to a maximum of $ 500, and only working families with three or more children will be eligible to receive cash refunds.

A couple with two children could therefore end up paying an added $ 1,000 in taxes next year. Since they have fewer than three children, they will no longer be eligible for a cash refund. And if they don’t owe any taxes, they can’t apply the credit either, said Williams.

2. Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit

This credit allows working parents — or those looking for work — to report up to $ 3,000 of child care-related expenses per child, up to a maximum of $ 6,000 per family. Families can receive up to 35% of their expenses as a credit, with lower-income families receiving the highest percentages.

Prior to the Bush tax cuts, parents could only report up to $ 2,400 per child or $ 4,800 per family, and families received a maximum credit of just 30% of expenses.

Should the tax breaks expire, the credit will revert to these lower levels. That would mean the largest credit that parents with two children could receive next year would be $ 1,440, compared to $ 2,100 currently.

3. Earned Income Tax Credit

The government estimates that the Earned Income Tax Credit lifts millions of Americans out of poverty each year by allowing them to hold onto more of their earnings.

The more children you have, the more money you receive.

For example, married couples filing jointly with income below $ 50,270 and three or more qualifying children can receive up to $ 5,891 this year. If a married couple doesn’t have any qualifying children but has income below $ 19,190, the maximum credit drops to $ 475.

Since 2001, the income thresholds at which the credit begins phasing out for married couples were raised by about $ 5,000 by the Bush and Obama tax plans. But at the end of this year, phaseout thresholds for married couples are scheduled to revert to the lower income levels that apply for single filers.

Obama also raised the maximum credit for families with three or more children from 40% to 45% of a household’s earnings (up to a maximum amount), and that rate is slated to go back to 40% in 2013. This decrease could amount to a loss of more than $ 600 for families with at least three children who had previously claimed this credit, said Williams.

4. American Opportunity Tax Credit

Introduced as part of Obama’s 2009 stimulus plan, the American Opportunity Tax Credit aims to help lower-income families pay for college. It replaced the Hope Credit and allows qualifying families to claim up to $ 2,500 each year for four years.

Obama made the credit 40% refundable, meaning a family that qualifies for the full $ 2,500 can receive $ 1,000 of the credit in cash and the rest must be applied toward their tax liability. That refundable $ 1,000 is especially important for low-income families, since they often don’t have big enough tax bills to apply a non-refundable credit. Often, the refundable amount is the only portion they receive.

But the American Opportunity Tax Credit is scheduled to revert to the Hope Credit. At that point, the maximum credit will drop to $ 1,800. Also, families will only be able to claim the credit for two years and it will no longer be refundable.

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Stock futures gain on hopes for "fiscal cliff" deal

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock futures rose on Tuesday, indicating equities could extend a rally that took them to nearly two-month highs on growing optimism over a "fiscal cliff" deal.

Stocks have struggled for direction in recent weeks, with investors reluctant to make big bets in the face of uncertainty over the cliff, a combination of steep tax hikes and spending cuts that could hurt the U.S. economy if they take effect next year. Moves have been muted over the past weeks, with volume anemic.

Hopes for a deal grew on Monday night as President Barack Obama made a counter-offer to Republicans that included a major change in position on tax hikes for the wealthy, according to a source familiar with the talks.

That report followed a meeting between Obama and Republican House Speaker John Boehner, who has edged closer to Obama's position by proposing to extend lower tax rates for everyone who earns less than $1 million.

Many investors fear that going over the fiscal cliff could push the U.S. economy back into recession, an outcome that would also pressure global growth and sap demand for commodities.

"Neither side appears to be digging in their heels so much, and that increases the optimism there might be a deal," said Oliver Pursche, president of Gary Goldberg Financial Services in Suffern, New York. "Political risks have been the main thing suppressing market gains, so if those abate we could see a rally that is significant."

S&P 500 futures rose 5.5 points and were above fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures added 30 points and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 18 points.

European shares <.fteu3> rose 0.3 percent on Monday, while January crude futures were up 0.6 percent. The MSCI index of global stocks <.miwd00000pus> rose 0.2 percent.

While the cliff has been the primary driver for markets, tech shares will also be in view as Oracle Corp reports results after the market closes. The company is seen posting profit growth of more than 10 percent but a 2.3 percent dip in revenue, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Reporting quarterly results early on Tuesday, Sanderson Farms Inc posted a better-than-expected profit, helped by rising poultry prices. Jefferies Group is on tap to report later in the day.

The New York Times late Monday said that Wal-Mart Stores Inc's Mexican affiliate routinely used bribes to open stores in desirable locations. The story cited 19 instances of the retail giant paying off local officials. In a statement Monday night, Wal-Mart spokesman David Tovar said the company was looking into the allegations.

Arbitron Inc surged 25 percent to $47.60 in premarket trading after Nielsen Holdings NV agreed to buy the media and marketing research firm in a deal worth $1.26 billion.

U.S. third-quarter current account figures are due to be released at 8:30 a.m. (1330 GMT). Economists in a Reuters survey forecast a $103.4 billion deficit versus a deficit of $117.4 billion in Q2.

Hopes for a fiscal cliff deal lifted shares on Monday, breaking a two-day decline for the S&P. The Dow and Nasdaq surged more than 1 percent in Monday's session, while all 10 S&P 500 sectors ended higher.

(Editing by Kenneth Barry)

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Boeheim wins 900th, appeals for action on firearms

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) — With his wife, Juli, looking on at the postgame press conference and his young children close by, Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim's final remarks were not about his milestone 900th career victory.

Instead, he was thinking about two 6-year-old boys who were buried Monday, victims along with 18 other children and six adults in a shooting massacre last week at an elementary school in Connecticut.

"If we cannot get the people who represent us to do something about firearms, we are a sad, sad society," Boeheim said Monday night. "If one person in this world, the NRA president, anybody, can tell me why we need assault weapons with 30 shots — this is our fault if we don't go out there and do something about this. If we can't get this thing done, I don't know what kind of country we have."

It was a sobering end to what was a memorable evening for Syracuse basketball. The third-ranked Orange's 72-68 victory over Detroit in the Gotham Classic made Boeheim just the third Division I men's coach to reach 900 wins.

Boeheim, 68 and in his 37th year at his alma mater, is 900-304 and joined an elite fraternity. Mike Krzyzewski (936) and Bob Knight (902) are the only other men's Division I coaches to win that many games.

"To me, it's just a number," said Boeheim, whose first victory was against Harvard in 1976. "If I get 900, have I got to get more? That's why maybe it's just not that important to me because to me it's just a number, and the only number that matters is how this team does."

So far, it's done OK.

James Southerland had 22 points for Syracuse (10-0), which increased its home winning streak to 30 games, longest in the nation. Detroit (6-5), which lost 77-74 at St. John's in the second game of the season and 74-61 at Pitt earlier this month, had its four-game winning streak snapped.

Dave Bing, Boeheim's college roommate, teammate and fellow Hall of Famer, and Roosevelt Bouie, a star on Boeheim's first team in 1976-77, were in the Carrier Dome crowd of 17,902.

Bing was standing tall in the locker room after the game.

"Nobody would have thought when we came here 50 years ago that either one of us would have had the kind of success we've had," said Bing, today the mayor of Detroit. "I'm so pleased and proud of him because he stuck with it. He's proven that he's one of the best coaches ever in college basketball, and he'll be No. 2 shortly."

After a victory that nearly was short-circuited, Boeheim was presented a jersey encased in glass with 900 emblazoned on it.

"I'm happy. I've stayed around long enough. I was a little nervous," Boeheim said at center court. "I'm proud to be here. To win this game is more pressure than I've felt in a long time. I wasn't thinking about losing until the end. That wouldn't have been a good thing to happen, but it very well could have."

Indeed.

Midway through the second half with Syracuse dominating, fans were given placards featuring cardboard cutouts of Boeheim's face with 900 wins printed on the back to wave in celebration. But when the public address announcer in the Carrier Dome invited fans to stick around for the postgame ceremony, the Titans roared back.

Juwan Howard Jr., who finished with 18 points, scored 14 over the last 6 minutes to key a 16-0 run, his two free throws pulling Detroit within 67-63 with 55.1 seconds left after the Titans had trailed by 20 with 6:09 to play.

"You know what, I didn't hear it, but the players probably heard because they sure came alive," Detroit coach Ray McCallum said. "This is a big stage. Guys sitting around the hotel watching television getting ready to play the No. 3 team in the country and they're talking about going for 900 wins, coach Boeheim. That's a lot for a young man to digest."

Michael Carter-Williams hit three of four free throws in the final seconds to secure the win.

"Michael made big-time free throws you've got to make. If he misses a couple, it's a new game. That was the difference," Boeheim said. "We have not been in that situation. Hopefully, we'll learn from that."

Carter-Williams finished with 10 assists and 12 points, his sixth straight double-double.

"It was great to be part of this," Carter-Williams said. "It's a part of history."

Doug Anderson scored 18 points and Nick Minnerath had 13 for Detroit. Ray McCallum Jr., the coach's son and Detroit's leading scorer at 19.4 points per game, finished with nine, while Jason Calliste had seven.

Southerland scored a career-high 35 points, matching a school record with nine 3-pointers, in a win at Arkansas in late November and, after an 0-for-10 slump over three games, found his range again Saturday night with three 3s in a win over Canisius. He finished 5 of 8 from behind the arc against the Titans.

One of the keys to breaking Syracuse's 2-3 zone is hitting the long ball, and Detroit struck out in the first half. The Titans were 0 for 10 and the lone 3 they did make — by McCallum with just over 6 minutes left — was negated by a shot-clock violation.

Detroit could only lament what might have been if a couple had gone in.

"We never gave up. That's a tribute to our team," Howard said. "We had the right attitude. We played a tough opponent. You usually don't want a moral victory, but we can take some positives from this game."

Syracuse plays again Saturday against Temple in Madison Square Garden, and the Orange faithful are likely to be out in numbers as they usually are when the team plays there.

Boeheim was effusive in praise of the support the team has received during his long tenure. Syracuse has had 71 crowds of over 30,000 since the Carrier Dome opened in 1980 and holds the NCAA on-campus record of 34,616, set nearly three years ago against Villanova.

"The support of fans cannot be overestimated," he said. "You have to have that kind of support in your building to bring recruits in, to help you play better. We've had a tremendous loyal fan base. That's why I always felt this was a great place to coach and why I never really thought about going anywhere else. The support from the fans is the No. 1 thing you have to have."

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Exclusive: Rosneft could raise $10 billion bonds for TNK-BP deal

Russia's Rosneft could raise as much as $10 billion on bond markets to finance its takeover of Anglo-Russian oil firm TNK-BP , potentially matching loans backed by future oil exports.

Bankers familiar with Rosneft's plans to finance the $55 billion deal to buy Russia's No.3 oil firm say the state-controlled oil major was strongly encouraged by high investor demand for a recent $3 billion bond offering.

Demand for the two-tranche Eurobond deal last month topped $20 billion, but Rosneft decided to limit the size, leaving investors clamoring for more, three financial sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

"They can do a very large transaction in public markets," said one source acquainted with Rosneft's financing plans, adding that a multi-tranche deal of up to $10 billion could be launched before the deal's expected closing in early 2013.

Rosneft declined to comment.

Rosneft is paying relatively low interest on its most recent Eurobonds - 3.1 percent on $1 billion in notes due in March 2017 and 4.2 percent for $2 billion in bonds maturing in March 2022.

It is also talking to oil majors and traders including Shell , Total and Glencore to raise up to $10 billion, secured against future oil exports, sources have told Reuters.

The takeover would create the world's top listed oil firm by output, pumping the equivalent of 4.6 million barrels per day, twinning TNK-BP's cash-generating prowess with Rosneft's deep reserves of oil, which are sufficient to last a quarter of a century.

TOTAL CONTROL

In Russia's largest-ever acquisition, Rosneft will buy out British oil major BP's half stake in TNK-BP for $17.1 billion in cash and 12.8 percent of its own shares.

CEO Igor Sechin this week signed a binding deal to buy the other half of TNK-BP for $28 billion in cash from a quartet of Soviet-born oligarchs represented via the AAR consortium. Full payment is to be made on closing.

The outright takeover will secure a windfall of TNK-BP dividends that have gone unpaid this year, while the target's low debt level would give the merged business a better credit standing than Rosneft's alone.

Even now, Rosneft's borrowing costs are already well covered by cash flows, with a net debt to core profit ratio of 0.91 on an annualized basis.

In its recent Eurobond prospectus, Rosneft said it would be able to draw on over $15 billion in existing cash resources at Rosneft and TNK-BP, covering a third of the $45.1 billion cash component of the takeover.

Rosneft also said it had received a commitment from a syndicate of international banks to lend it approximately $30 billion, including up to $7.5 billion in long-term financing.

In addition to the Eurobond program of up to $10 billion, Rosneft still has the capacity to borrow $2.4 billion from a $3 billion rouble bond issuance program, the prospectus added.

So-called off take finance is also mentioned: Rosneft has raised significant funds in the past in this way, including a $15 billion loan from China in 2009 as part of a major deal to pump oil via a new Siberian export pipeline.

Sechin, for his part, has highlighted possible non-core asset sales to help fund the TNK-BP, including Rosneft's minority stake in the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, which ships oil from Kazakhstan to the Black Sea.

Bankers say Rosneft could end up raising more cash than necessary to close the TNK-BP deal, which would help it cover the cost of launching new fields in the Arctic and a $25 billion program to upgrade its oil refineries.

The final size of the syndicated loan could exceed the $30 billion named in the prospectus, with $35-$40 billion potentially on the table from Western banks, and Russian banks also likely to chip in.

"The company did a road show, and it received commitments from bankers that exceed its financing needs," said a second source familiar with Rosneft's discussions with bankers.

"Bankers are queuing up, there is so much commitment and willingness to participate. I've never seen anything like it. They are fully covered from the western banking community."

Given investor demand for Rosneft exposure, syndicated bridge financing could be quickly refinanced into longer-term arrangements, bankers say. "The syndicated loan won't be out there for long," the first source said.

(Writing by Douglas Busvine; Additional reporting by Megan Davies and Oksana Kobzeva; Editing by Will Waterman)

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