www.abc.net.au Posted: Mon, 13 Jan 2003 7:03 AEDT

Venezuelan military police and National Guards have fired tear gas canisters at opposition protesters marching towards a military complex where an earlier rally ended in violence that killed two. The protest has further stoked tension surrounding a crippling strike, aimed at forcing President Hugo Chavez from office, that is heading into a seventh week.

Military troops in full riot gear had positioned themselves along the main access road to the Fort Tiuna military complex, where several armed personnel carriers were deployed and barbed wire fences were set up.

The military police and National Guard fired the tear gas at a group of protesters that attempted to remove a barbed wire barricade. A small group of Chavez supporters cheered and clapped, while hundreds of protesters flung themselves to the ground to try to avoid inhaling the gas.

Antonio Ledezma, one of the opposition leaders, told reporters that he "appeals to the manhood of the national armed forces" to end their support for Chavez.

Once the tear gas cleared, the protesters again gathered in front of the same barricade, where some of the protesters kneeled on the ground.

Authorities were also holding back a group of Chavez supporters a few metres away.

A similar march to the military installations in south-west Caracas on January 3 ended in violent clashes with Chavez supporters.

Snipers shot at the anti-government protesters and police fired back, leaving two Chavez backers dead and 18 people wounded.

www.grandforks.com Posted on Sun, Jan. 12, 2003 BY PASCAL FLETCHER Reuters

CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuelan troops fired tear gas on Sunday to force back tens of thousands of anti-government protesters in Caracas as leftist President Hugo Chavez threatened tough measures to counter a crippling 6-week-old opposition strike.

Clouds of gas enveloped the demonstrators, who had marched toward Fuerte Tiuna military headquarters but found their path blocked by barbed wire barricades and several hundred National Guard troops and military police.

"This looks like a war zone," opposition leader Antonio Ledezma said after the protesters scattered. Several people were carried away, apparently overcome by the gas.

The clash, one of several in recent weeks, broke out on the 42nd day of a grueling opposition strike that has slashed oil output and production in the world's No. 5 petroleum exporter.

The strikers are demanding the resignation of the populist leader, who was elected in 1998, six years after he staged a botched coup bid. They want him to hold early elections.

Chavez sternly warned the opposition strikers he would not let them disrupt the nation's social and economic life by shutting down schools and banks or interfering with food supplies.

"They are attacking the country and the population ... denying them gasoline and food ... sabotaging education and health," he said during his weekly television and radio broadcast.

Chavez, who has already sacked 2,000 striking oil executives and employees, repeated threats to send troops to take over private factories and stores if anti-government businessmen withheld food supplies.

On Saturday, he warned the government would intervene in banks and schools shut by the strike.

"This was a declaration of war. Chavez is not interested in dialogue or reconciliation," glass artist Luz Marina Urrecheaga said on Sunday as she and other protesters harangued helmeted troops.

The strike has rocked Venezuela's oil-reliant economy and sent its bolivar currency tumbling. It has also jolted oil markets and the oil exporters' cartel OPEC agreed on Sunday to raise production by 1.5 million barrels per day to stave off a spike in prices threatened by the Venezuelan strike.

PROTESTERS MOCK TROOPS

The marchers had headed toward Fuerte Tiuna in a repeat of a Jan. 3 protest that left two Chavez supporters dead and dozens more injured.

A small crowd of angry Chavez supporters who turned out to confront the anti-government protesters were kept back by a separate cordon of troops.

On his weekly "Hello President" show, Chavez threatened to revoke the broadcasting licenses of private TV stations that criticize his rule.

As a result of the strike, Venezuelans have been experiencing unprecedented shortages of gasoline, cooking gas and some food items.

With many businesses closed, bank workers staged a 48-hour stoppage last week, but will reopen on Monday under restricted service hours.

Chavez, who survived a brief coup in April, says he is a champion of the poor and that wealthy and corrupt minority elites are trying to topple him.

Chavez's foes accuse him of dragging Venezuela toward Cuban-style communism. They say his support has reached an all-time low, even among the poor.

The government and opposition remain deadlocked over the timing of elections and the United States wants a negotiated settlement in talks brokered by the Organization of American States.

Opposition leaders were traveling to the United States to present their case to United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the State Department.

The opposition plans to hold a nonbinding referendum on Chavez's rule on Feb 2. Chavez says such a referendum can't be legally held until August. His term ends in early 2007.

cbs.marketwatch.com

By Myra P. Saefong, CBS.MarketWatch.com Last Update: 2:31 PM ET Jan. 12, 2003

NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- Oil prices are expected to come under pressure Monday after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed Sunday to increase crude production by 1.5 million barrels a day in a bid to lower prices and offset shortages resulting from a strike in Venezuela.

The increase of 6.5 percent to 24.5 million barrels a day will take effect Feb. 1, the oil cartel said, adding that it will review the decision at its next regularly scheduled meeting in March. Read full story.

"The move is good to make up for lost production in Venezuela and will definitely be helpful in relieving anxieties now and help to keep crude prices in the low $30s," said Todd Hultman, president of Dailyfutures.com, a commodity information provider.

Friday's action

Crude futures closed lower Friday with traders confident OPEC will boost production, but unsure of the size of the hike and its impact on a market plagued with problems at two of its major oil producers -- Venezuela and Iraq.

February crude closed at $31.68 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, down 31 cents.

The contract gained more than a dollar, or 5 percent, Thursday on doubts that OPEC members can pump enough extra oil to replace production lost to Venezuela's oil strike and the potential disruption of supplies from Iraq.

OPEC members agreed to hold an emergency meeting this Sunday to discuss increased production targets, with Saudi Arabia reportedly supporting an output hike of 1.5 million to 2 million barrels per day.

"An increase of more than 1.5 to 2 million barrels per day will cause prices to stabilize and perhaps fall," John Kilduff, an analyst at Fimat USA told clients Friday, while "anything less than 1.5 million barrels per day will be viewed as insufficient and prices will probably continue to rise."

Analysts have said that it takes around five weeks for oil shipments resulting from the hike to show up on U.S. shores, and with OPEC not expecting to implement its increase in quotas until Feb. 1, traders are doubtful of OPEC's ability to help supplies in the near term.

The cartel has also said it plans to cancel the increase in production once the strike in Venezuela, which began on Dec. 2 in opposition to President Hugo Chavez, is resolved.

"Even if the strike is settled today, the Department of Energy estimates that it will take about four months [for Venezuela] to reach production levels attained before the strike," said Kilduff, adding that both the opposition and supporters of Chavez seem far apart and adamant in their demands.

Against this backdrop, "OPEC will probably not increase production enough to make up for that lost from Venezuela," he said. The South American nation produced around 3 million barrels a day and comprised more than 10 percent of U.S. oil imports prior to the strike.

Concerns over OPEC's ability to cover lost oil in the event of a U.S. war with Iraq on top of Venezuela's shortfall have also surfaced. Analysts pegged OPEC's spare capacity at around 3 million barrels, which would fall short covering a total of around 5 million barrels lost from OPEC members Venezuela and Iraq.

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is "a wild card and there is no telling what he might do," said Kilduff. If a war starts, prices could spike higher, he added.

The latest reports on U.S. crude supplies, both released Wednesday, however, failed to reflect much of an impact from Venezuela's 40-day oil strike.

The American Petroleum Institute said crude supplies fell by only 2 million barrels to total 275 million barrels during the week ended Jan. 3. The Energy Department said crude supplies actually rose by 400,000 barrels to 278.7 million barrels. See full story.

In other Nymex action, February unleaded gasoline declined by 2.06 cents to close at 87.19 cents a gallon. February heating oil also fell by 0.97 cent to 86.53 cents a gallon.

The losses in petroleum futures failed to put a damper on most oil-service stocks. The Oil Service Index ($OSX: news, chart, profile) was up 0.4 percent. See Energy Stocks.

Natural gas slips

Also on Nymex, natural-gas futures fell in delayed reaction to the latest government report on supplies, which revealed a smaller-than-expected decline in last week's stocks.

February natural gas fell by 16.1 cents to close at $5.143 per million British thermal units.

The Energy Department reported early Thursday that natural-gas supplies fell by 86 billion cubic feet to 2.331 trillion cubic feet during the week ended Jan. 3.

Fimat predicted a 109 billion cubic foot decline and estimates ranged between a 60-billion and 110-billion-cubic-foot draw. A year ago, inventories fell by 199 billion cubic feet.

Supplies are now 459 billion cubic feet lower than last year at this time and 2 billion cubic feet below the five-year average, the government said.

Weekly declines of 111 billion cubic feet are needed in the remaining 12 weeks of the withdrawal season for inventories to drop to about 1 trillion cubic feet by March 28, Fimat said.

Gold futures' one week gain at $5

After a slow start, gold futures prices made a fresh attempt at a six-year high Friday, closing near $355 an ounce and logging a gain of $3 for the week. See Metals Stocks.

Grains wilt

On the Chicago Board of Trade, reports from the U.S. Department of Agriculture released early Friday revealed bigger-than-expected stocks of grains, pressuring corn, soybeans and wheat.

March corn fell 8 3/4 cents to 234 3/4 cents a bushel and March soybeans shed 23 cents to 556 3/4 cents a bushel. March wheat fell 9 3/4 cents to 319 1/4 cents a bushel.

The government raised its estimates for stocks at the end of the 2002 to 2003 year for corn by 81 million to 924 million bushels, soybeans by 15 million to 190 million bushels and wheat by 70 million to 418 million bushels, according to Todd Hultman, president of commodity information provider, Dailyfutures.com.

Grain stocks as of Dec. 1 came in higher than expected, he said.

The USDA pegged corn at 7.63 billion bushels, down 8 percent form a year ago. Soybeans were down 7 percent from a year ago at 2.11 billion bushels and wheat was at 1.32 billion bushels, down 19 percent form a year ago.

The Reuters/CRB Index, broad-based measure of the commodity futures market, closed at 240.2, down 0.5 percent. Myra P. Saefong is a reporter for CBS.MarketWatch.com in San Francisco.

www.canada.com John Valorzi The Canadian Press Sunday, January 12, 2003

A lessening of international tensions in hot spots such as Iraq, North Korea and Venezuela, where a widespread strike has crippled the country's oil industry, could help lift markets this year, analysts say.

After one of the most volatile periods in memory for the stock market, the average investor is nervously hoping that 2003 will bring a long-awaited rally in equities.

With the U.S. economy looking poised for recovery, the stock market could end a three-year losing streak that has squeezed investors portfolios and left many average consumers disdainful of buying stocks.

A lessening of international tensions in Iraq, Venezuela and North Korea could also spark a market recovery. And there's also a chance investors may forget the lessons of the current bear market and get tempted again by hot stocks that could create another bubble to burst.

That's why keeping investor expectations in check is right up near the top of any list of financial resolutions for the New Year, advisers say.

The usual things such as making sure you diversify your holdings, invest in RRSPs, think ahead for tax planning and keep debts manageable should be on that list as well. But for such volatile times, investors must accept the fact 15 to 20 per cent annual returns on their portfolios are a thing of the past, so they should be thinking long-term, not month by month or day by day.

"With everything that's happened over the past three years, it sort of drives home the point that if you're investing, your best strategy is always to have a diversified portfolio and stick with it for the long haul," says Marc Levesque, senior economist at TD Bank.

"Don't try to time the markets and play games in hopes of making a quick buck. Investing is a long-term proposition, and there's a lot of uncertainty out there now as to where the markets are going over the next year.

"My advice to people would be to just sit there, stand pat. The markets will recover one day."

Model portfolios should include about half of the money in stocks, a third in bonds and the rest in cash or short-term liquid investments. Those percentages can then be adjusted depending on how one particular sector is doing against the other.

Bea Hale, a certified financial planner with the Berkshire Investment Group in Whitby, Ont., says she reminds clients to review their portfolios to ensure they are appropriately diversified and not just in one market sector or one type of investment.

"Quite often, a lot of the clients are in something that is a little too risky. Not diversified overall, but diversified in one sector," she says. "It causes a problem when that sector goes down."

Richard Yasinski, president of Financially Sound in Stittsville, Ont., near Ottawa, says he'll be advising his clients in the new year to weigh the pros and cons of being long-term equity investors.

Although Yasinski also advocates a balanced approach to investing, he has long held that stocks should play a significant part of most portfolios, particularly for investors looking ahead 10 years or more.

But given the length of the stock market downturn and the volatility that investors can expect ahead, Yasinski says he understands why people may be having their doubts about equities.

"My clients have been investing for five years or more and not seeing a lot of growth," Yasinski says. "I guess my comment to clients is: 'Are you willing to stick it out.' "

Conditions are very different now compared with the 1990s and "clients are going to have set their expectations" and decide whether they really believe equities will outperform bonds or cash or other investments, he says.

Yasinski is among those who is wary about income funds, believing there has been so much recent interest in them that there is a "mini bubble" that's bound to burst at some point.

Income funds pay out a large portion of the cash flow generated from the underlying business each month or quarter, making them somewhat similar to an interest-bearing or dividend-paying investment.

However, income trust units are a form of equity, akin to common shares, that provide investors with less protection than do bonds or preferred shares, which have a higher claim on the business's assets in the event of insolvency.

Investors may also face special tax opportunities, or challenges, since the trusts' distributions may be treated as interest, dividend, capital gains or a combination of all three.

Yasinski says he believes the biggest opportunity for investors is in "standard common shares of viable businesses that have just been beaten up the last couple of years because of the market."

"Don't give up yet, especially if you have five or more years before you ever need the money."

Sunday, 12 January, 2003, 15:44 GMT news.bbc.co.uk

Venezuela's strikes have hit exports very badly

The oil producers' organisation Opec has agreed to increase production to try to stabilise the price of oil.

The cartel made the decision after four hours of talks at a meeting in Vienna in response to a sharp rise in world prices.

The main cause is the continuing strike in Venezuela, which has cut the amount of oil on the market by at least 2 million barrels a day.

The United Arab Emirates' oil minister told reporters that he and fellow ministers had agreed to fill the gap in world oil supplies caused by Venezuela's problems.

But he did not give any details of the size of the increase.

Before the meeting the leading Opec producer, Saudi Arabia, said the cartel was already filling the gap caused by the Venezuelan strike.

"There is no shortage. We never allowed the shortage to take place," said Saudi oil minister Ali al-Naimi.

Since mid-December the price of crude oil in both London and New York has been above Opec's target range of $22 to $28 a barrel.

More soon.