A round-up of today's other stories in brief

Kerry Group announces retirement of two directors

Kerry Group has announced the retirement of directors Donal O’Donoghue and John Twomey from the company’s board.

In a statement to the Irish stock exchange yesterday, the food company also confirmed Kieran Breen and Patrick Flahive had been appointed as non-executive directors with effect from January 12th. Both men are also directors of Kerry Co-operative Creameries.

Velti prices IPO shares at $9-$11

Velti PLC has priced its initial public offering of about 12.5 million shares at $9-$11 a share. The Ireland-based company said it was offering about 11.1 million shares, while selling stockholders were offering 1.4 million shares, the company said in a filing.

The provider of mobile marketing and advertising technology intends to list on Nasdaq under the symbol VELT. It will continue to trade on London's junior market AIM after the IPO.

US lawmakers aim to curb speculators

Sweeping plans to curb speculation in raw materials, including oil, gold and wheat, have been proposed by US regulators.

The plans come amid fears that surging prices for fuel and agricultural commodities could lead to a food crisis and threaten recovery.

However, they face an uphill battle to survive after strong opposition even within the regulatory panel that has drawn them up. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2011

Exports behind US trade gap boost

Rising exports of US goods helped narrow the US trade gap with the rest of the world, lifting expectations that the economy grew faster at the end of last year.

The commerce department said the US trade deficit narrowed from $38.4 billion to $38.3 billion in November, falling by 0.3 per cent to the lowest level in nearly a year.

The deficit was expected to widen, but a jump in exports, thanks to a weaker dollar and stronger appetite for US goods, helped to trim the shortfall.

"The data will tend to reinforce solid growth projections for the fourth quarter [of] solidly above 3 per cent," said Alan Ruskin, an analyst at Deutsche Bank.

International demand increased for US goods such as aircraft and pharmaceuticals and exporters benefited from rising prices for commodities. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2011