The Norwegian economy

The Norwegian economy is a prosperous bastion of welfare capitalism, featuring a combination of free market activity and government intervention. The government controls key areas, such as the vital petroleum sector, through large-scale state-majority-owned enterprises. The country is richly endowed with natural resources - petroleum, hydropower, fish, forests, and minerals - and is highly dependent on the petroleum sector, which accounts for nearly half of exports and over 30% of state revenue. Norway is the world's third-largest gas exporter; its position as an oil exporter has slipped to seventh-....................






Read More:http://wsjr.nl/Norway.html

Norwegian Forex Twitter

Norwegian credit default swaps trade well below even Switzerland and Germany, making Norway the “safest of safe havens for sovereign credit risk,” Hardy noted. and the Norges Bank’s revised forecasts aside, credit markets continue to price in more than a full percentage point of tightening in monetary policy over the next year.

Of course, there’s also oil — the lifeblood of Norway’s economy. Rising energy prices have taken oil to highs above $86 a barrel and crude remains near $84 on Nymex.

“One of our favorite trades within the G10 for the coming 6 to 12 months time frame is an AUD/NOK (Australian dollar/Norwegian krone) short, considering the extreme levels of that pair relative to its past history,” Hardy wrote in a research brief. 

Norway takes home 3 biathlon gold from Whistler

While there was no owning the biathlon podium in Vancouver, Norway made another statement as the country to beat at the Winter Olympics.

The Norwegians lost the medal battle to France, 6-5 at Whistler Olympic Park, but three times they stood atop the podium as gold medallists.

Ole Einar Bjoerndalen stood out with silver in the men's 20-kilometre (behind rising Norwegian star Emil Hegle Svendsen) and skied the anchor leg in a gold-medal finish in the 4x7.5km relay.

The 36-year-old legend now has 11 medals at four Olympics and has said he would attempt to break the Winter Games record of 12 — held by cross-country skier Bjorn Daehlie of Norway — in 2014 at Sochi, Russia.

Tora Berger won Norway's other gold medal, collecting the country's 100th gold medal of all time, dominating the women's 15km pursuit with a time of 40 minutes 52.8 seconds.

Germany's Magdalena Neuner was dominant on the women's side, earning three of her country's four medals: gold in the 10km pursuit and 12.5km mass start, along with silver in the 7.5km sprint.

She chose to sit out the 4x6km relay, citing fatigue and stress, to give her teammates a chance to taste success. They went on to place third behind Russia and France.

The Russians repeated as champions in the women's 4x6km relay while Evgeny Ustyugov, who was knocked off the podium in the 20km individual race, breezed to the finish in the 15km mass start.

Canada failed to medal in any of the 10 events, but there were some positives:

Quebec City's Jean-Philippe Le Guellec set a new Canadian men's standard with a sixth-place finish in the 10km sprint.
Marc-Andre Bedard of Valcartier, Que., gave the Canadians a short-lived lead entering the prone shooting stage of the second leg in the 4x7.5km relay en route to a 10th-place finish.
Other Canadian biathletes that competed in Whistler include: Robin Clegg (Edmonton), Brendan Green (Hay River, N.W.T.), Megan Imrie (Falcon Lake, Man.), Zina Kocher (Canmore, Alta.), Rosanna Crawford (Canmore) and Megan Tandy (Prince George, B.C.).

Anastazia Kuzmina picked up Slovakia's first gold medal of Vancouver Games, clocking 19 minutes 55.6 seconds in the women's 7.5km sprint. She only missed one of 10 shots at the shooting range.

Source:cbc.ca/

Martin sweeps ghosts, Norway aside

Eight years after his last shot in Salt Lake City slid far enough for silver and Norway celebrated that last half an inch for all the gold it was worth and more, the tables turned on Sunday and it was Martin at the top of his game -- and the podium.

Fittingly, the Edmonton skip delivered the last rock this time too, a hit-and-stick in the 10th that ran Norway's Thomas Ulsrud out of rocks and the ghost of Salt Lake City out of the picture.

"When that rock was going to make contact, that's about as good a feeling as you get," said Martin.

"All the hard work, it all comes to fruition. We wanted to get one step higher on the podium because the other stuff was done. It's surreal. I said it to the guys as we were walking out to the podium, it's like walking through a dream. It's amazing. I guess as the hours pass it will become more real but it's hard to believe."

That the resume is full. That there is Olympic gold to accompany Salt Lake silver as well as the world and Brier titles. And the look on his face, heck, all their smiling mugs, was complete and total satisfaction at a job perfectly done. They went 11-0, an Olympic record. They handled the weight of expectation as easy as they did their draw weight.

They revelled in the wacky atmosphere, respected their opponents and kept on driving to the podium, a destination that was four years in the making for lead Ben Hebert, second Marc Kennedy and third John Morris, double that for Martin.

And Paal Trulsen, the man whose 2002 win gave Martin a ghost and a goal to chase for those eight years, couldn't be happier for his longtime friend and foe. Now the Norwegian coach, Trulsen hugged Martin in the aftermath of the Edmonton team's 6-3 victory at Vancouver Olympic Centre.

"He deserves a rest. He deserves this gold. I think he is really relieved now," said Trulsen. "To be a curling player in Canada is completely different than a curling player in Norway. He's a big star here and he really deserves his spot in the history of curling, I think. He has been up there for 15, 20 years, now he's got his gold and I'm happy for him."

It wasn't all about Martin, no more than the game could have been won without the rest of the team. Morris was unconscious, throwing a trio of big-weight doubles and a ridiculous triple in the fourth end. Norway wore the clown pants but Morris made the circus shots look routine.

"John was on fire," said Martin, who followed that act with clutch shotmaking of his own in the second half of the match. And the heavy movers at the front, Kennedy and Hebert, were the rock-solid performers we have grown accustomed to seeing, hunched over and brushing like mad fools. The lead was 3-0 at the break and when Martin made a freeze in seven to give him a chance for two, it was already academic.

There was no drama left after the ninth end, Canada coming home up three with the locals singing the national anthem.

"Could you have pictured a better script, especially for Kevin?" marvelled Kennedy. "On his home soil, going unbeaten, against Norway and Sweden in the semi? It's like a fairytale, unbelievable. It's just a lot of joy and a lot of relief. And you get tingles, jitters up the spine. The one thought that goes through my mind is, I don't think it gets better than this. Up three coming home, home crowd, the Olympic Games, and they're singing the anthem -- it just doesn't get any better. I don't know how I'm going to top this. I might have to retire."

Ulsrud joked that he wished Martin would do the same. And if the old bear had only been hanging around to avenge Salt Lake City, he might have made plans to exit stage left with this gold. But he had long ago filed 2002 away into a corner of his mind where it would keep company with the accomplishment of silver and a host of championships. It was not a standalone failure at the heart of his curling career, it was unfinished business on the periphery. It has been dealt with and he can keep going.

"I know how much this means to him and it had nothing to do with 2002 or any Olympics he's been to," said Hebert.

"He just wanted to win this one to fill his resume as probably the best curler of all time and he played like it all week."

Martin went 85 per cent for the tourney, just 78 per cent on the day. Norway's numbers mirrored Canada's throughout but the biggest shots were all made by the home side at the right time. Morris, in particular, played like a man possessed.

"Sometimes Johnny gets that look in his eye where he misses no shots," said Hebert. "Fourth end, when he made that triple, I knew he was fired up. When he gets that look in his eye he's probably the second best player in the world. You get them both on one team it's a pretty good little weapon."

But they were determined to play every angle even before they hit the ice.

They have always taken care of the details, committed themselves to excellence, so Morris delivered an impassioned pregame speech just as he had done before the Olympic trials final against Glenn Howard.

"I just said the word of the day today is relentless. We're going to be relentless out there. Let's play a good aggressive Canadian curling game that we know how to play.

"Let's not think of the gold medal or anything at the end of the road. Let's think of what we've got to do to make the next shot.

"All four of us, we've played enough big games that we felt comfortable and confident in big game situations and today they just showed again they're big game players."

Eight years ago Martin lost the big game to Trulsen. He had the winning stone in his hands and sent it too far down the ice. He doesn't need another crack at it any more.

Source:vancouversun.com/

iPhone app to catch snooping partners

An iPhone app has been designed to catch partners who read their loved one's ­messages.

The iTrust creates a locked dummy screen to prevent access to text messages, emails or social networking accounts, and stores a record of every button pressed on the display.

Bob Nerberg, 26, of Oslo, who wrote the app, said his girlfriend, from Liverpool, whom he met while studying in the UK, helped him write it. He said the app would make relationships stronger.


"It's something everybody thinks about in a relationship – is my partner reading my texts and emails? Now you can be sure."

Source:guardian.co.uk/

Frozen Norwegian IPO market seen thawing in 2010

OSLO, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Despite a 10-month stock market bull run, Norwegian initial public offering (IPO) activity is seen as low in early 2010, but the Oslo bourse says several firms could weigh in later this year after a two-year drought.


Only a few minor Norwegian IPOs have been made since mid-2008, when the financial crisis put paid to a capital raising boom centred on the energy and oil services sectors.

Oslo's oil-heavy main index plunged 55 percent in 2008, but has been a top performer after growth returned to key economies last year and raw material prices regained momentum.



The main index has more than doubled from a March 2009 low and is back at the level it was before Lehman Brothers collapsed

Source:in.reuters.com/