Y E L L O W

* * * * * * THURSDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2013 ~ VOL. CCLXII NO. 104 WSJ.com HHHH $2. 00
DJIA 15618.76 g 61.59 0.4% NASDAQ 3930.62 g 0.55% NIKKEI 14502.35 1.2% STOXX600 320.80 0.01% 10-YR. TREAS. g 5/32, yield 2.526% OIL $96.77 g $1.43 GOLD $1,349.00 $3.80 EURO $1.3736 YEN 98.52
CONTENTS
Business Technology B5
Corporate News... B2-4
Global Finance............ C3
Heard on the Street C10
In the Markets.......... C4
Leisure & Arts............ D4
Opinion.................. A13-15
Small Business.......... B7
Sports.......................... D5,6
Style & Travel......... D2,3
U.S. News................. A2-7
Weather Watch........ B8
World News... A8-11,16
s Copyright 2013 Dow Jones & Company.
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Whats
News
i i i
World-Wide
nObama pushed back against
complaints about canceled in-
surance policies, while Sebe-
lius apologized for the health
websites dysfunction. A1, A6
n The presidents job-ap-
proval rating has sunk to a
record low, a poll showed. A5
n Social Security payments
to retirees and the disabled
will rise 1.5% in January, a his-
torically small adjustment. A2
n Congressional budget ne-
gotiators met publicly, while
the Treasury said the budget
deficit fell to $680 billion. A5
n Spanish officials back-
tracked from complaints
about alleged U.S. spying. A9
n Egypt arrested one of the
last senior Muslim Brother-
hood figures still at large. A9
n Researchers identified a
potentially powerful treat-
ment for HIV infection. A7
nAcousin of the SARS virus
lives in bats and can likely jump
to people, scientists found. A7
n Pakistan said 3% of people
killed in U.S. drone strikes
since 2008 were civilians. A16
n China detained five sus-
pects in Mondays deadly Ti-
ananmen Square car crash. A11
nCongos U.N.-backed troops
flushed rebels out of their last
remaining stronghold. A16
n Teen pregnancy remains a
stubborn problem in develop-
ing nations, the U.N. said. A16
i i i
B
razilian billionaire Eike
Batistas oil company, OGX,
filed for bankruptcy protec-
tion, a milestone in the col-
lapse of the tycoons empire. A1
nThe Fed left investors guess-
ing about when it would start
to pare back stimulus. Stocks
fell, with the Dow losing
61.59 points to 15618.76. A1, C4
n The U.S. blamed Ger-
manys policies for dragging
down European neighbors
and the global economy. A1
n Facebook warned it may
not be able to cram more ads
into users news feeds, over-
shadowing strong results. B1
n AMR and US Airways are
preparing a proposal aimed at
settling the Justice Department
suit blocking their merger. B3
n Strong demand for cars
and trucks in North America
and China lifted results at GM,
VW, Chrysler and Honda. B4
n Retailers and grocers are
bracing for a drain on con-
sumer spending when a food-
stamp-benefit boost expires. B1
n Infosys agreed to pay $34
million to settle with the U.S.
over alleged visa violations. B1
n Londons top traders and
bankers could see a big boost
to monthly pay as banks adapt
to a newEUlawon bonuses. C1
n Comcast lost more video
customers amid intensified
competition from AT&Ts U-
Verse and Verizons FiOS. B4
nHong Kongs stock exchange
is considering rule changes
that could reopen the door for
Alibaba to list its IPO there. C1
Business &Finance
Federal Reserve officials
emerged from a two-day policy
meeting with their signature easy-
money program intact and no
clear signal about whether they
would begin pulling it back at
their December meeting or con-
tinue it into 2014 during a leader-
ship transition at the central bank.
In the six weeks since the Fed
last met, Washington has been
rocked by fiscal brinkmanship
that led to a government shut-
down that delayed crucial eco-
nomic data and raised worries
that the Treasury Department
could miss some bond payments.
Fed officials stuck to their as-
sessment of the slow-growing
economy following that political
storm and decided to keep their
$85 billion-a-month bond-buying
program in place for now. The de-
cision left investors uncertain
about when officials will begin
paring the purchases that have
been an important driver of asset
prices and interest rates.
Officials spoke earlier this year
about starting to pull back the
program before year-end if the
economy improved as expected.
They held off at their September
meeting because of lackluster
growth and the cloudy political
outlook and remain in a holding
pattern. Their last chance to pull
the program back before year-end
is a Dec. 17-18 policy meeting. The
latest policy statement implicitly
Pleaseturntothenext page
BY VICTORIA MCGRANE
AND JON HILSENRATH
Fed Opts
To Stay
Course,
For Now
President Barack Obama on
Wednesday said Americans who
are losing insurance under the
health law would find better cov-
erage, rebutting a rising chorus of
complaints that he had oversold
the laws benefits.
With Republican criticism in
Congress intensifying over can-
celed policies and the new online
insurance marketplaces malfunc-
tioning, Mr. Obama used a speech
in Boston to tell Americans that
they could obtain improved insur-
ance if they shopped around. This
comes after the president has
long said that people who like
their health plans would be able
to keep them after the new law
takes effect next year.
While thousands of people who
buy coverage through the individ-
ual market now are finding that,
in fact, they cant keep their in-
surance, Mr. Obama said the 2010
health law was replacing sub-
standard plans offered by bad-
apple insurers with improved
coverage that includes more bene-
fits.
So, if youre getting one of
these letters, just shop around in
the new marketplace, the presi-
dent said. For most people,
youre going to get a better deal.
In his speech, Mr. Obama
added caveats to his broad prom-
ise that people could keep their
current coverage: For the vast
majority of people who have
health insurance that works, you
can keep it. He acknowledged
that some people would need to
obtain new plans and that a frac-
tion of Americans would pay
more but get more comprehensive
coverage.
The presidents comments
came hours after the top official
in charge of the laws rollout,
Health and Human Services Sec-
retary Kathleen Sebelius, apolo-
gized in congressional testimony
PleaseturntopageA6
BY COLLEEN MCCAIN NELSON
AND PETER NICHOLAS
Obama Tempers Insurance
Pledge as Health Fight Rages
Employing unusually sharp lan-
guage, the U.S. on Wednesday
openly criticized Germanys eco-
nomic policies and blamed the
euro-zone powerhouse for drag-
ging down its neighbors and the
rest of the global economy.
In its semiannual currency re-
port, the Treasury Department
identified Germanys export-led
growth model as a major factor
responsible for the 17-nation cur-
rency blocs weak recovery. The
U.S. identified Germany ahead of
its traditional target, China, and
the most-recent perceived prob-
lem country, Japan, in the key
findings section of the report.
The U.S. is itself dealing with
persistently weak growth and has
faced complaints from some coun-
tries about its attempts at reviv-
ing a sluggish economy, including
the Federal Reserves easy money
PleaseturntopageA8
BY IAN TALLEY
AND JEFFREY SPARSHOTT
U.S. Blasts
Germanys
Economic
Policies
Sebelius Goes Face-to-Face With Congress: Hold Me Accountable
The Health and Human Services secretary apologized for the faulty federal health-insurance website during a contentious three-hour hearing. A6
J
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AEGVIIDU, EstoniaDont let
Angeelika Kang fool you. She has
built a reputation as the Baltic
answer to Martha Stewart with
her willingness to show amateur
bakers how to whip up camera-
ready cakes. She shares her best
recipes in popular
Estonian cook-
books. But there
are deep secrets
she isnt going to
divulge, like how
she finds her wild
mushrooms.
Ms. Kang, 42
years old, is pas-
sionate about one
of the nations
treasured pastimes: preserving
dewberries, tomatoes, cucum-
bers and other edible items that
can be freely gathered from Es-
tonias forests. Gathering wild
stuff is very big in the northern
countries and Scandinavia.
But dont ask Ms. Kang for in-
side information on the best
place to find the most prized of
the produce on her shelvespar-
ticularly mushrooms. Youll be
plum out of luck.
Like many others in the
northern reaches of Europe, Es-
tonians consider their private
haunts sacred
ground. Asked
where to track
down wild chanter-
elles, for instance,
Ms. Kang is apt to
say, Take a left
from the main road
there, turn right at
the tree and then
left again.
She admits, that
is a lie. You will never find the
right spot.
This years mushroom harvest
is on the wane, but fear that the
activitys deepest secrets arent
safe is always in season. The
PleaseturntopageA4
BY LIIS KANGSEPP
Estonians Will Tell You Anything,
Except Where the Mushrooms Are
i i i
Take This Road and Turn Right at the Tree;
Do That and Youll Be Up a Creek
Amanita muscaria
RIO DE JANEIROIn 2006, Eike
Batista strode into Rios opulent
Copacabana Palace hotel for cock-
tails with a Canadian pension fund
looking to play Brazils rise. The
Brazilian entrepreneur captivated his hosts with a
brazen pitch: He aimed to be the worlds richest
man, and investors along for the ride would pros-
per, too.
The way he says it, it doesnt sound crazy,
says Brian Gibson, then a senior vice president
with the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan, which or-
ganized the reception.
As an investor, you are looking for someone who
is hungry, Mr. Gibson says. I didnt know if he was
going to be the richest or not, and I didnt care.
Mr. Batista didnt make it. In-
stead, he presided over one of the
most breathtaking rise-and-fall sto-
ries in the history of business.
Starting in 2006, Mr. Batista pub-
licly listed five startups in five years, creating a
Brazilian commodities empire from scratch. He
called the companies idiot-proof and gave them
names ending in X to mean multiplication of
wealth. The 56-year-olds backers ranged from
General Electrics chief executive, Jeff Immelt, to
portfolio giant BlackRock Inc. By last year Mr. Ba-
tista ascended to the Top 10 of the Forbes list,
with wealth of more than $30 billion.
Then, his empire fell. The OGX oil firm he took
PleaseturntopageA12
By John Lyons,
Luciana Magalhaes
and Loretta Chao
IDIOT-PROOF
Billionaires Empire Soared,
Then Melted Into Bankruptcy
General Warns on Iraq Violence
NEW DANGERS: The top U.S. commander in the Middle East on Wednesday
said spiraling violence in Iraq threatens the region and could push the
nation closer to Iran. Above, a bomb attack shook Baghdad on Oct. 7. A9
R
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r
s
Barack Obamas job approval, A5
40
45
50
55%
2013 2012
The Wall Street Journal
Ill Will
Oct. 25-28:
Source: WSJ/NBC News telephone poll of
800 adults conducted Oct. 2528, 2013;
margin of error is +/ 3.46 percentage points.
DISAPPROVE
APPROVE
42%
51%
Warning Signs, A3
Fourth in a
series on
cities health
looks at
thinning cash
reserves.
Capital: Deficit still matters... A4
Stocks retreat from records... C4
Heard on the Street................. C10
WORLD SERIES FINAL
Sox Clinch
Title in Boston
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