The recent announcement by the New York Times (NYT) that it would start to require subscriptions next year has drawn no shortage of attention and commentary. It has tried to put content behind a pay wall before (and failed), as have other newspapers.

Almost universally, newspapers have struggled with online subscriptions, with the Financial Times and Wall Street Journal, a News Corp (NWS) property, the only two that have really delivered results better than awful. Whether the New York Times can operate at that level is in doubt, particularly given the stunning realization about Long Island daily newspaper Newsday.

The New York Times (NYT) has been struggling to figure out the web, which has led to a debate over whether to charge for electrons that has spanned years. Well, the Times seems likely to take the plunge, hoping to replicate the successes of the Financial Times and Wall Street Journal ... except, of course, that the Wall Street Journal is famous for not really delivering profits. Fortunately, the new pay wall is expected to look more like the Financial Times than the Wall Street Journal. The New York Times is considering a "metered" system. Visitors will be able to read a certain number of articles free before being required to subscribe.

A friend of Arthur Sulzberger, according to New York Magazine's Daily Intel, said that the final word could come in a few days, a sentiment corroborated by a newsroom source who said that the plan could be announced within weeks. Yet, plans need to be implemented, so it could take months for the Times to begin charging for content.

On the final trading session before Christmas, Apple, Inc. (AAPL) shares hit an all-time high thanks to a published report hinting that another product announcement may be rolling in. On December 23, the Financial Times reported on its Tech Blog that Apple "has something big up its sleeve for next month."

The main reason for this speculation is that the tech company has booked a stage at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA) in San Francisco for "several days in late January." Apple has used this venue to make major announcements in the past, and the speculation is that Apple is going to make a major product announcement at the end of January. The blog quoted Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster as saying, "We believe there is a 75 per cent likelihood that Apple will have an event in January and a 50 per cent chance that it will be held to launch the Apple Tablet."

Oh how the mighty have fallen.

Not so long ago The Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX) was making headlines for founder Steve Schwarzman's 60th birthday party that featured a one million dollar performance by Rod Stewart.

Well now that bubble has burst, the stock has tanked and Blackstone is in the newspaper for sharing Financial Times subscriptions among employees to save on the $99 per year subscription fee. The problem is that the Financial Times is suing. According to The Wall Street Journal,"The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Manhattan, says a 'senior' Blackstone employee distributed login information for one account to other employees. That account accessed thousands of individual articles from February 2006 to June 2008. The suit describes the use as 'massive' and 'far more than an individual would normally access.'"

Highly unbecoming of the Masters of the Universe, if you ask me.

Novartis (NYSE: NVS - option chain) shares have moved higher today after after a writer at the Financial Times said in an article that the company exemplifies "the resilience of the European pharmaceuticals sector in turbulent times." The article notes that Novartis is a favorite among pharmaceutical-sector analysts, and that the company's cost cuts have boosted its bottom-line despite the economic downturn. If you think that the stock won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on NVS.

NVS opened this morning at $49.34. So far today the stock has hit a low of $48.67 and a high of $49.46. As of 12:20, NVS is trading at $49.26, up $1.06 (2.2%). The chart for NVS looks neutral and S&P gives NVS a 3 STARS (out of 5) hold ranking.

For a bullish hedged play on this stock, I would consider a February bull-put credit spread below the $40 range. A bull-put credit spread is an options position that combines the purchase and sale of put options to hedge risk in case the stock doesn't do what you think but still leverage nice returns. For this particular trade, we will make a 4.2% return in just six weeks as long as NVS is above $40 at February expiration. Novartis would have to fall by more than 18% before we would start to lose money. Learn more about this type of trade here.

NVS hasn't been below $41 at all in the past year and has shown support around $44 recently.

Brent Archer is an options analyst and writer at Investors Observer.

DISCLOSURE: Mr. Archer owns and/or controls diversified portfolios of long and short stock and option positions that may include holdings in companies he writes about. At publication time, Brent neither owns nor controls positions in NVS.

While the euro has risen by as much as 40% against the dollar since 2002, emerging market currencies have only seen gains of 17%.

Should investors sniff an opportunity?

Well, yes and no.

An article out this morning by the Financial Times examines this disparity.

The FT says, "Fear is part of the answer. Investors haven't forgotten the emerging market currency devaluations of the 1990s and early 2000s. For them it's 'no thanks, too risky.'"

Investors already hold emerging market equities in their portfolios, and according to the FT, investors might feel that these equity positions suffice for currency exposure.

Financial Times columnist Martin Wolf, an economist, poses the question, "Will CO2 emissions limits lead to a zero-sum global economy?" – an economy characterized by stagnant (or declining) incomes, and armed conflict among nations?

Wolf argues that increased energy consumption per capita, primarily oil from fossil fuel, has been a key causal factor in creating the plus-sum economic world we live in, which he calls the positive-sum economy. Or in other words, rising energy consumption has helped produce rising productivity / real incomes / wealth, and the expanding global economy that we know today.

In addition, Wolf further argues that rising energy consumption transformed politics -- assisting both the birth of democratic politics at home and more-consensual foreign relations among states -- by increasing the size of the economic pie. Elites in a country, Wolf argues, became more willing to tolerate the enfranchisement of the masses because it was in the elites' economic interest to do so: i.e. that energy consumption created a more-productive (and more-valuable) citizenry with higher incomes.

Internationally, a nation's gains from the increased trade that characterizes the high-energy consumption era far exceed its gains from making war with another nation: the plus-sum global economy that trade produces supports today's norm of trade as opposed to the limited-sum world's norm of conflict and war.

In an essay/column in this week's issue of The New Yorker magazine ("Paulson's Plan," December 17, 2007) writer James Surowiecki offers a more-somber analysis of the subprime mortgage default issue than, say, Financial Times' columnist Martin Wolf.

In Surowiecki's analysis, (which, readers should note, was researched and published before the European Central Banks' infusion of $500 billion Tuesday to ensure year-end liquidity for banks), the current problem is one unlike any other that Wall Street has faced. The problem is not liquidity, as Martin Wolf argued, but 1) high-risk home owners who spent way too much n overpriced houses, and 2) a deep mistrust of the financial system because of the way the system rates and values assets like mortgages.

At issue: Wall Street?

Hence, the Bush Administrations' proposed assistance plan to the mortgage sector and some homeowners, even if it becomes more-encompassing, would not solve the problem: the financial system - - and presumably Wall Street - - simply does not rate and value assets correctly, and the government package doesn't speak to that dimension.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• According to the Wall Street Journal's (subscription required) "Heard on the Street" column, content firms such as Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ: AKAM) and Limelight Networks (NASDAQ: LLNW) are getting hammered, and there appears to be no letup in sight because while online traffic is up 60% a year over the last few years, those firm's shares are expensive and, says S&P's Scott Kessler, "There's plenty more room for [Akamai and Limelight] to fall."
• TiVo (NASDAQ: TIVO) is looking at a new revenue source -- being paid to give out market research to advertisers, reported the Wall Street Journal. The company plans to announce today that it will add demographic data, including age, income, marital status and ethnicity, about its viewers.
• The Financial Times (subscription required) reported that Ford (NYSE: F) is likely to have to pay any buyer of its Jaguar and Land Rover units because of a $2B pension deficit, according to people close to the situation.

OTHER PAPERS:

• The New York Times reported that Con Edison (NYSE: ED) was fined $18M for service disruptions in 2006, including the nine-day blackout in western Queens, NY.
• The Associated Press reported that Baidu (NASDAQ: BIDU) is considering listing on the Hong Kong and mainland China stock markets, according to the company's CEO.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• Following Chrysler's lead to cut costs in relation to slowing sales, Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) may cut its 2008 spending by 15%, according to the Wall Street Journal (subscription required).
• The Writers Guild of America, battling with Hollywood film and TV producers, is expected to call for a strike, reported the Wall Street Journal.
• Siemens AG (NYSE: SI) CEO Peter Loscher is getting ready to implement aggressive earnings targets for the company's senior managers, as well as thousands of job cuts, reported the Financial Times (subscription required).

OTHER PAPERS:

• According to two people familiar with the talks, the latest round of negotiations to buy Trump Entertainment Resorts (NASDAQ: TRMP) have fallen apart, reported the New Jersey Star-Ledger.
• From BusinessWeek's "Inside Wall Street" column:
  
• Investors may now be looking at AT&T (NYSE: T) as a "high-quality stock for the long haul," says Justin Hellman of Value Line.
• While many investors may be looking at Clinical Data's (NASDAQ: CLDA) possible blockbuster antidepressant drug and genetic test, they are banking on the company's Chairman Randal Kirk, who controls 40% of the stock.
• MoneyGram International (NYSE: MGI) may be looking for buyers, and John Bendall, CEO of Hermitage Capital, thinks it is worth $30 a share.
  

MAJOR PAPERS:

• Next year the sale of prescription drugs in the U.S is expected to be the slowest in years, resulting from tough regulation and cost-controls, according to IMS Health Inc., a health-care information and consulting firm, and reported by the Wall Street Journal.
• NYSE Euronext (NYSE: NYX) has paid $90M for a 1% stake in Bovespa, the owner of Brazil's largest exchange. The move is seen as an attempt by NYSE Euronext to increase its presence in Brazil, reported the Financial Times.

OTHER PAPERS:

• The U.K. Times reported that British telecom company BT Group (NYSE: BT) is expected to announce that it will cut thousands of jobs when it reports its Q2 results next week.
• Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER) has notified pension boards that it is being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which believes the company may have violated federal regulations, reported the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
• The Detroit News reported that Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) and the UAW talks adjourned at 1am and will continue later this morning. Sources say that progress was made in the talks although no agreement was reached.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• In a potential breakthrough for Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) , Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) and Vodaphone Group's (NYSE: VOD) Verizon Wireless, and Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE: S) are both in talks about Google's new mobile phone operating system, reported the Wall Street Journal (subscription required).
• Congress approved a seven year extension of ban on Internet tax, voting 402-0, and President Bush is expected to sign the bill, according to the Wall Street Journal.
• Stan O'Neal may be gone, but the SEC's enforcement staff is now looking at how Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER) informed investors about its $8.4B write-down that forced O'Neal out, reported the Wall Street Journal.
• CLP Holdings (OTC: CLPHY), Hong Kong's largest power company, is planning to bid for electricity assets in Australia, India, Singapore and other countries in Southeast Asia, reported the Financial Times (subscription required).

OTHER PAPERS:

• The Star reported that life insurance company Manulife Financial Corporation (NYSE: MFC) is open to making acquisitions in Malaysia if suitable opportunities in the country arise, according to Manulife's senior executive vice-president and general manager for Asia, Robert A. Cook.
• The U.K. Times reported that British Airways' (OTC: BAIRY) plans to create a new airline offering flights between Europe and New York have been thrown into disarray after the Federal Aviation Administration threatened to block any increase of air traffic into New York's chronically congested JFK Airport.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• According to the Wall Street Journal's "Heard on the Street," Frederick Cannon of Keefe, Bruyette & Woods says that Countrywide Financial Corporation (NYSE: CFC) stock will "underperform" the market, and that they haven't indicated that they can "earn above its cost of capital" especially when future mortgage losses are unclear.
• Last month Bear Stearns (NYSE: BSC) reported a 61% fall in third quarter earnings and chairman and CEO James Cayne has announced that 300 staffers are being laid off, according to the Wall Street Journal.
• As a result of banking reforms in Japan, JP Morgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon says the bank is ready to make a significant acquisitions there, according to the Financial Times.

OTHER PAPERS:

• Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) intends to close six unnamed plants that the UAW wants to remain open, and the company is willing to compromise if the UAW agrees to certain concessions, reported the Associated Press.
• On the heels of a strong third quarter, mall developer Simon Property Group (NYSE: SPG) is in a buying mode, looking for troubled companies, reported the Indianapolis Star.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• Walter S. Mossberg, who writes the Wall Street Journal's "Personal Technology" column, reviewed Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL) new Leopard operating system, and said it was "better and faster than [Windows] Vista".
• Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) is halting two small studies of the most promising drug in its pipeline, prasugrel, which it hopes will bring over $1B a year in sales for the drug maker, reported the Wall Street Journal (subscription required).
• The Wall Street Journal reported that Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) has beaten Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) in a closely watched contest, winning a minority stake in Facebook for $240M, and the right to sell advertising on the
  Facebook site outside the U.S..
• JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) is considering acquiring a stake in a Chinese brokerage as part of its expansion strategy in the country, said Gaby Abdelnour, chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Asia Pacific, reported the Financial Times (subscription required).
• The Financial Times reported that Nintendo (OTC: NTDOY) raised its earnings outlook and announced that its 1H07 profits had tripled, thanks to the success of its Wii video game console and the DS, its handheld games player.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• CtW Investment Group sent a letter to Countrywide Financial Corporation's (NYSE: CFC) Board of Directors "urging" for the resignation of CEO Angel Mozilo, reported the Wall Street Journal (subscription required).
  
• According to antitrust attorneys, a possible merger with a Big Pharma company may result in Biogen Idec (NASDAQ: BIIB) having to divest some overlapping assets or licensing deals in order for the deal to get approval from the Federal Trade Commission, reported the Financial Times "MergerMarket" blog.
• The Financial Times reported that Gilat Satellite Networks (NASDAQ: GILT) is working with UBS to evaluate "several strategic and private equity buyers" in buying Gilat, which could get over $500M in a sale, according to people familiar with the matter. Bids for the company are due by the end of the week, said the sources.

OTHER PAPERS:

• The New York Times reported that Chinese investment bank Citic Securities is planning to invest $1B in Bear Stearns Companies (NYSE: BSC), according to sources.
• The New York Times reported that the head of the Federal Trade Commission, or FTC, has rejected numerous requests to open an investigation into Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) for anticompetitive conduct, according to inside sources.
• The Guardian reported that world oil production peaked last year, and production will fall by half as soon as 2030, according to a report by Germany-based organization Energy Watch Group.