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By Lukanyo Mnyanda and Keith Jenkins - 2012-05-26T06:00:00Z

Frances bonds rose in the week, with 10-year yields falling the most in five months, as investors sought higher-yielding alternatives to German securities as havens from Europes debt crisis.

Yields on the French benchmark debt slid to a record yesterday as a report showed consumer confidence improved and after Le Parisien reported the government may raise tax-free state savings-account limits, potentially boosting demand from banks holding the deposits. German 30-year bonds pared a fourth week of gains as Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti said Europes largest economy can be persuaded to support joint euro bonds. Spanish 10-year yields stayed above 6 percent.

It may just be a product of a hunt for yield as the yield compression has continued almost unabated across the bund curve to the point where even 30-year bonds dipped below 2 percent, said Richard McGuire, a senior fixed-income strategist at Rabobank International in London. That perhaps informed the positive performance that weve seen in semi-core paper.

The French 10-year yield fell 34 basis points, or 0.34 percentage point this week, to 2.52 percent at 4:28 p.m. London time yesterday, after reaching 2.422 percent, the least since Bloomberg began collecting the data in 1990. The 3 percent bond due April 2022 rose 2.93, or 29.30 euros per 1,000-euro ($1,257) face amount, to 104.19.

Austrias five-year note yield was at 1.25 percent, after falling to a record 1.216 percent.

The extra yield, or spread, that investors get for buying 10-year French bonds over similar-maturity German bunds narrowed 28 basis points in the week 114 basis points. It widened to a euro-era record 204 basis points in November.

Investors looking for safety within Europe amid speculation that Greece may withdraw from the monetary union are looking beyond Germany, which sold two-year notes on May 23 at an all- time low average yield of 0.07 percent. The securities carried a zero-percent coupon. The country also sold index-linked bonds due April 2023 with a real yield of minus 0.24 percent.

Dramatic rallies in core-to-semi-core markets have dominated price action in the past couple of days, Padhraic Garvey, head of developed-market debt at ING Groep NV in Amsterdam, wrote in a note to clients yesterday. The likes of France, Austria and Belgium are perceived to be offering the characteristics of relative safety, but with a spread that more than compensates for the extra risk.

Benchmark 10-year German bund yields declined six basis points to 1.37 percent.

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French Bonds Gain as Investors Seek Crisis Havens

Rich people are starting to flee America and especially California for tax havens elsewhere. It's not as bad as refugees getting out of North Korea. But it's not good.

The most publicized recent example has been Eduardo Saverin, a co-founder of Facebook, worth approximately $3.8 billion. Thats because Facebooks initial public stock offering hauled in $104 billion Friday.

It recently came out that Mr. Saverin renounced his U.S. citizenship in September and now lives in Singapore. Reported Bloomberg, Besides helping cut tax bills stemming from the Facebook IPO, the move may also help him avoid capital-gains taxes on future investments since Singapore doesnt have a capital-gains tax.

The top U.S. capital-gains tax currently is 15 percent, and could rise to 20 percent next year if President Barack Obama is re-elected and current tax cuts expire. The top California capital-gains tax is 9.3 percent. So, assuming Mr. Saverin lived in California, potentially hes avoiding a 29.3 percent capital-gains tax.

As to income tax, Singapores top rate is 20 percent. By contrast, the top U.S. rate is 35 percent, but could become 39.6 percent if Mr. Obama has his way. Californias top incometax rate is 10.3 percent, but could become 13.3 percent should Gov. Jerry Browns tax increase initiative be passed by voters in November. The possible combined top U.S. and California income tax rate for next year: 52.9 percent. Thats compared with Singapores 20 percent.

And its not exactly like Mr. Saverin or any of us is getting high-quality return on taxes. Especially in California, many roads are crumbling, many schools are poor, the publicemployee pensions are unsustainable, and state and local governments face potential Greecestyle bankruptcies.

People move in and out of countries for reasons other than taxation, Esmael Adibi told us; hes the director of the A. Gary Anderson Center for Economic Research at Chapman University. But there still are two problems, he said. In California especially, the state isnt business-friendly. And its become difficult for people to make a living here.

Unfortunately, Gov. Brown in his tax-increase pitch and Mr. Obama in his campaign of envy of the rich, both are making targets of people like Mr. Saverin.

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., for example, said Thursday that he would push to bar people who give up citizenship to avoid taxes from reentering the U.S.

Contrast that with countries that are flourishing such as Singapore and formerly communist China are more welcoming to those who innovate and invest. If the goose leaves, you dont get the golden eggs.

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Ahead of the tax man

A story highlighting Apple's use of tax havens and loopholes has apparently left the company's reputation unscathed according to a new study.

Apple's use of various tax loopholes to save money, as chronicled in a recent New York Times story, has not damaged the company's reputation, according to a new study.

Polling firm YouGov -- which we've previously mentioned in relation to one of Facebook's early privacy flaps -- says perceptions of Apple are back to where they were before the publication of the Times story, which focused on the company's tactics to save money by setting up businesses in tax-friendly locations.

The firm says Apple's reputation is "virtually Teflon," when compared to the tax story the NYT did on General Electric the month prior, which noted that the conglomerate brought in profits of $14.2 billion in 2010 but paid nothing in taxes, while claiming a tax benefit of $3.2 billion.

"The reaction [to the story about GE] was more pronounced and longer: the company's reputation took a steep drop and two months to recover to precrisis levels," YouGov said in a post on its company blog. By comparison, YouGov says Apple's reputation score went up from 52 to 58 (on a scale of -100 to 100) after the story published, and it now sits at 51.

The methodology behind the numbers asks people whether they would be "proud or embarrassed to work for this brand," then turns that score into a number between 100 to -100 (-100 is completely negative, and 100 is completely positive). Points are assigned by "subtracting negative feedback from positive." The daily sample size for the polling is 5,000 people per weekday, the company said.

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Apple's reputation untarnished by tax issue, study says

Govt to deliberate tax measures as investors fret Move to target tax evaders through GAAR, retroactively tax indirect transfer of assets, has spooked investors, leading to exodus of funds Reuters / Mumbai May 06, 2012, 14:44 IST

Whatever its intentions in cracking down on abuse of tax havens, India has alienated overseas investors with the timing and communication of its measures when it can ill afford to do so.

The government's move to target tax evaders through a general anti-avoidance rule (GAAR), along with a plan to retroactively tax the indirect transfer of assets, has spooked investors and added to an exodus of funds, battering the rupee.

"We are hoping that because of the currency and because of inflow problems, they might either delay it by a year or do something else," said Samir Arora, an India-focused fund manager with Helios Capital Management in Singapore.

After days of what traders said was intervention to defend the rupee, the Reserve Bank of India late on Friday took steps to encourage dollar inflows, a move dealers said may do little to improve near-term weakness in the currency, which is approaching an all-time low set in December.

Meanwhile, the gloomy mood derailed the year's biggest initial public offering from India, with auto parts maker Samvardhana Motherson Finance Ltd on Friday scrapping its $311 million issue because of poor demand.

Foreign funds are usually the biggest buyers of large Indian equity deals.

Adding to investor ire, India said on Friday it may review its tax break treaty with Mauritius, the East African island country that the majority of foreign portfolio inflows are believed to be routed through.

Mauritius is the same source of fund flows India is targeting through its GAAR proposal.

"Govt going all out to make foreign investors flee India. GAAR is not yet settled and they are making statements on Mauritius treaty review," tweeted Sandip Sabharwal, head of portfolio management services at Prabhudas Lilladher Group.

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Govt to deliberate tax measures as investors fret

By Tony Munroe

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Whatever its intentions in cracking down on abuse of tax havens, India has alienated overseas investors with the timing and communication of its measures when it can ill afford to do so.

India's move to target tax evaders through a general anti-avoidance rule (GAAR), along with a plan to retroactively tax the indirect transfer of assets, has spooked investors and added to an exodus of funds, battering the rupee.

Starting on Monday, India's parliament will begin considering the finance bill that includes the tax proposals but final details may be a month or more away, government sources have said, which could prolong the uncertainty and aggravate a balance of payments shortfall.

"We are hoping that because of the currency and because of inflow problems, they might either delay it by a year or do something else," said Samir Arora, an India-focused fund manager with Helios Capital Management in Singapore.

After days of what traders said was intervention to defend the rupee, the Reserve Bank of India late on Friday took steps to encourage dollar inflows, a move dealers said may do little to improve near-term weakness in the currency, which is approaching an all-time low set in December.

Meanwhile, the gloomy mood derailed the year's biggest initial public offering from India, with auto parts maker Samvardhana Motherson Finance Ltd on Friday scrapping its $311 million issue because of poor demand. (L4E8G45PK)

Foreign funds are usually the biggest buyers of large Indian equity deals.

Adding to investor ire, India said on Friday it may review its tax break treaty with Mauritius, the East African island country that the majority of foreign portfolio inflows are believed to be routed through.

Mauritius is the same source of fund flows India is targeting through its GAAR proposal.

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India to deliberate tax measures as investors fret