Finance topics

Italy pledged on Friday to work swiftly for a constitutional amendment requiring the government to balance its budget, as Rome feverishly tried to assure domestic and foreign investors its finances are sound and calm nervous markets in Europe.

Premier Silvio Berlusconi told a hastily convened evening news conference the government will “speed up measures” in its budget law approved last month by Parliament, “with the possibility of reaching a balanced budget by 2013 instead of 2014″ as first planned.

His conservative government, now more than three years into its five-year term, will also work to amend the Constitution to include a requirement for a balanced budget, Berlusconi said.

Berlusconi, saying he conferred by phone with world leaders, announced that G-7 finance ministers will meet “within days” about the exploding financial crisis.

Later, his spokesman clarified that convening an “extraordinary meeting” of the G-7 finance ministers was still “at the reflection stage” with no decision yet taken, although Italy favored one.

Concern over the crisis was trans-Atlantic.

“This evening I’ll receive a phone call from President (Barack) Obama” because the crisis “pertains to the global financial panorama,” Berlusconi said. German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s office also said she would be consulting with Obama later Friday.

Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti, who stood beside Berlusconi, said a balanced budget could be achieved by 2013 by speeding up reform of Italy’s extensive, and expensive, social welfare system, which includes national health care and generous retirement payments.

Also key to this goal, Tremonti said, would be what he promised as the “mother of all liberalization,” especially in Italy’s highly regulated world of labor.

“The principle that all will be allowed unless specifically forbidden” by labor laws will be the guiding principle of the government’s strategy, Berlusconi said.

Italy’s industrialists and mid-sized employers have complained for decades that Italy’s strict laws making firing workers almost impossible discourages them from hiring more employees in moments of need.

Further strategy also includes privatization of sectors, which Tremonti didn’t specify, and what he said would be a “speeding up” of investment to improve and modernize infrastructure, as a way to wake up Italy’s slumbering economy.

Italy’s Parliament went on vacation for a month earlier this week, but on Friday, responding to the quickly worsening economic nervousness, officials of the two chambers said key committees would keep working throughout August.

And all the lawmakers were expected to be summoned back to work as soon as the reforms pushed by Berlusconi is ready for a full vote.

Berlusconi’s coalition, despite setbacks this year in local elections, has a comfortable majority in parliament assuming his often fickle ally, the Northern League, closes ranks.

The opposition center-left has been clamoring for Berlusconi to step down, insisting he has essentially done nothing in three years to create jobs or lower the tax burden on workers.

Berlusconi’s pledges Friday night “are nothing new compared to the paucity of ideas shown by his government in recent months,” said Rosy Bindi, an opposition leader faxless payday advance.

Italy’s borrowing costs rose above Spain’s for the first time in more than a year, pushing European leaders to interrupt their vacations and look for a response to deepening fears about the health of the eurozone’s No. 3 economy.

At the start of Europe’s debt crisis 21 months ago, Italy was rarely grouped with the weaker members of the single currency zone, such as Greece, Ireland and Portugal. Many in the markets thought Spain, with its 20 percent unemployment rate, was vulnerable.

But the emergence of Italy as a potential victim over the past few weeks has highlighted just how vulnerable the eurozone is and how insufficient its anti-crisis measures are.

The yield on Italy’s 10-year bond stands at 6.09 percent, ahead of Spain’s equivalent of 6.04 percent _ though both are lower than the euro-era highs earlier in the week and markedly below where they were at the start of the day, they’re still not far from the levels that forced Greece, Ireland and Portugal to seek international financial help.

Worries that Italy and Spain maybe next in line led Merkel, vacationing in the Italian Alps, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, on the French Riviera, to take time from their holidays for a phone conference on the eurozone crisis. Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero spoke with Sarkozy and Berlusconi in separate phone conversations Friday.

Merkel’s office said she spoke with Sarkozy, Berlusconi and British Prime Minister David Cameron.

All agreed that “decisions made by the EU summit on July 21 should be implemented quickly,” Merkel’s office said in a statement.

At last month’s huddle, eurozone leaders agreed to a sweeping deal that will grant Greece a new bailout _ but likely make it the first euro country to default _ and radically reshape the currency union’s rescue fund, allowing it to act pre-emptively when crises build up.

But their options to what a leading EU policymaker described as “incomprehensible” movements in the markets appear limited.

Even a better than expected U.S. jobs report Friday failed to ease the pessimism that has gripped investors over the past few weeks.

It’s only been two weeks since eurozone leaders agreed to expand the powers of its euro440 billion ($623 billion) rescue fund that helped bail out Greece, Ireland and Portugal. The fund will be able to buy governments bonds and bail out banks, but the new powers will not be in place until parliaments approve the changes in September.

Analysts also warn that the fund is currently not big enough to rescue Italy, whose debt amounts to 120 percent of economic output, around double that of Spain. Only Greece has a bigger proportion to service in the eurozone.

Markets have put increasing pressure on Italy because of its chronically weak growth and a general lack of confidence in Berlusconi’s ability or willingness to push through politically difficult measures to make the economy more productive.

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Solutia Inc.’s profit increased 66 percent in the second quarter to $68 million.   

The Town & Country-based chemical manufacturer’s net sales for the quarter that ended June 30 totaled $543 million, an 8 percent increase from the second quarter of 2010.

Solutia’s earnings per share, 57 percent, increased 30 percent compared to a year ago.

Solutia’s three business segments: Advanced Interlayers, Performance Films and Technical Specialties, each saw revenue growth in the second quarter low fee pay day loans. The largest growth came in Solutia’s Advanced Interlayers segment, which had $232 million in net sales for the quarter, a 12 percent increase from a year ago.

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Dozens of Yemeni troops went missing after a battle with al-Qaida-linked militants at a sports stadium in the country’s increasingly lawless south, a military official said Saturday, describing a new setback for a weakened regime already facing an array of opponents.

Meanwhile, President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has been treated in a Saudi hospital since an attack on his palace a month ago, remains bedridden and has difficulty breathing and talking, Yemeni officials said, revealing new details about the extent of his injuries. His condition cast doubt on repeated claims by his aides that his return to Yemen is imminent.

Saudi Arabia has been pressing Saleh to step down within 30 days and hand power to his vice president, in exchange for immunity from prosecution. However, despite his ill health, Saleh has refused to sign the deal.

A popular uprising against Saleh erupted in February, and the revolt gained momentum after some of the president’s close aides, military commanders and Cabinet ministers joined the protesters.

Islamic militants in the south have made advances, carrying out daring attacks in an apparent attempt to exploit the power vacuum and turmoil. Saleh’s troops seem largely focused on securing his hold on power in Sanaa, the capital.

However, some have accused Saleh and his allies of encouraging attacks by the militants in order to create chaos and make Yemenis long for the relative stability of his regime.

In a statement Saturday, former military commanders who now side with the anti-government groups said Saleh’s regime is responsible for the rising power of the militants. “After seeing that all their careless tactics have failed to squash the peaceful revolt, they are now resorting to the terrorism card which they only used internationally before,” said the group, which includes a close former Saleh aide, Gen. Ali Mohsen.

Criticism also came from regime loyalists, indicating widening cracks.

Col. Mohammed al-Sawmali, whose forces are battling militants in the southern city of Zinjibar, blasted the defense ministry for not providing enough support for his unit.

“They are afraid of the militants of Ansar al-Sharia and of al-Qaida,” he said. “For a while, we have been demanding and asking for deployment and supplies to the military district in the south from the ministry of defense and from the southern command center. But nobody is listening to us.”

Another southern official, Abdel-Majed al-Salahi, a leading member in Saleh’s party, said some in the party are plotting to unleash militants in southern cities and “terrorize and blackmail the world with al-Qaida.”

Government troops and warplanes have so far targeted only two southern cities, Zinjibar and Jaar, in Abyan province.

Some 50 government soldiers have been missing in Zinjibar since Thursday, following fierce clashes with the al-Qaida-linked group Ansar al-Sharia at a major stadium there, said a military official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.

In those clashes, 15 soldiers and eight Islamic militants were killed, the official said. The stadium was strategically located near the military base of the troops in the area.

The stadium is now in the hands of the militants, and many people living nearby have fled the area, said Ahmed Ghareb, a 31-year old city resident.

“We are living in fear,” he said, adding that he has sent his family to safety in a neighboring town no fax payday loan. “These groups are now in control of all government institutions and buildings, which they have turned into military bases for themselves,” Ghareb said. The militants have also broken into some homes in search of government supporters, he said.

In an apparent attempt to deflect the growing criticism, defense minister Mohammed Nasser Ahmed met Saturday with local officials in the southern city of Aden, just 70 kilometers (44 miles) from Zinjibar.

The minister said troops will make a greater effort to battle militants.

But security and military officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media, said Yemen’s elite anti-terrorism forces, lead by Saleh’s son, have not been deployed in the area. Saleh supporters have said the forces need to remain in the capital to protect it from attack.

The United States, in favor of a peaceful power transfer, fears that al-Qaida’s branch in Yemen could further exploit Yemen’s turmoil. Al-Qaida-linked groups have already used Yemen as a base for plotting two attempted anti-U.S. attacks.

In violence elsewhere Saturday, tribesmen attacked newly established positions of government troops near Taiz, the country’s second largest city, setting off clashes that killed four soldiers and a civilian, a security official said. Taiz is a hotbed of anti-government protests. In the fighting, troops fired shells that destroyed six homes, witnesses said.

In the central province of Marib, gunmen blew up an unused oil pipeline, the latest in a series of attacks on the same target in recent weeks, officials said Saturday. The attack occurred Thursday. Yemeni authorities stopped producing oil in May because of repeated attacks and labor unrest.

Yemen’s president, meanwhile, continues to be treated in Saudi Arabia for serious burns and other wounds he suffered in a June 3 attack on his palace in the capital of Sanaa.

Yemeni officials said Saturday that after undergoing two surgeries, Saleh remains bedridden and has trouble breathing and talking. Only relatives and his top adviser are allowed to visit him, one official said.

Earlier this week, a Yemeni TV network sent a crew to the Saudi capital to record an audio message from Saleh to the Yemeni people, but authorities prevented them from entering the hospital, a Yemeni official in Riyadh said.

“They were only allowed to film the hospital from outside,” the official said, citing an example of the Saudi restrictions on Saleh’s visitors.

Over the past week, Yemeni ruling party officials have suggested Saleh may deliver an audio message on state TV to assure his people. However, a week passed without word from Saleh.

“If he (Saleh) delivered a speech through an audio message, people would not believe it is him because they will not recognize his voice,” said another official, adding that Saleh’s voice box was harmed.

All three officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the issue.

The president has not been seen in public since the attack. On June 5, hours before he flew to Saudi Arabia, he aired a brief audio message, blaming an “armed gang of outlaws” for the attack on his palace.

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A report by a U.S. business group says Chinese consumers are becoming much more sophisticated in their tastes and expect a wider range of better products.

The report by the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai released Monday says local companies lead foreign ones in using e-commerce to expand sales among the country’s increasingly web-savvy shoppers.

The report forecasts that the country will become the No. 2 consumer market after the U.S. by 2015, as purchasing power nearly triples.

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French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde declared her candidacy to head the International Monetary Fund, saying she should be judged on the basis of experience rather than nationality.

“Being a European should not be a plus and it shouldn’t be a minus,” she said at a press conference in Paris today. “I am not arguing for my candidacy because I am a European.”

The IMF executive directors representing Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa united yesterday to protest publicly the presumption that the fund’s next chief once again be a European. The IMF has been led by Europeans since it was set up after World War II.

Lagarde, who would succeed countryman Dominique Strauss- Kahn and become the first woman to lead the Washington-based lender to nations since its founding in 1945, now has the backing of Europe’s main economies and, according to her government, China. Brazil will also privately support her rather than her main rival, Mexican central bank governor Agustin Carstens, a Brazilian government official said.

“It’s looking like it’s almost a done deal for Lagarde,” Desmond Lachman, a former deputy director at the IMF and now a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, said by telephone. “The emerging markets can’t get their act together and back one candidate.”

U.S. Role

The U.S., which may hold the decisive vote with a 16.8 stake in the fund, has not committed itself publicly. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said today that Lagarde and Carstens are “very talented” candidates.

President Barack Obama and fellow Group of Eight leaders plan to convene tomorrow in the French resort of Deauville, where the succession at the IMF is likely to be discussed.

Poland joined the list of those backing Lagarde, PAP newswire cited Jacek Rostowski, the Polish finance minister, as saying. “Minister Lagarde’s candidacy is very good, it’s difficult to imagine a better one, and it has the full support of the Polish government,” Rostowski said today, according to PAP.

Carstens remains the Mexican government’s choice for the IMF even after Lagarde announced her candidacy, Mexican Finance Minister Ernesto Cordero said.

“They are both strong, credible candidates,” Cordero said in Paris after a meeting with Lagarde. “We agreed that what the IMF needs is an open, transparent, merit-based process.”

Developing Nations

Cordero said he wasn’t surprised that other developing nations haven’t openly supported Carstens. “It’s early in the process,” he said. “Everyone is being prudent, which is what we need at this stage.”

Lagarde, 55, has an 88 percent chance of becoming the IMF’s 11th managing director and its fifth from France, according to Dublin-based odds-maker Intrade.com. The 187-member IMF aims to pick a successor to Strauss-Kahn by the end of June, little more than a month after he resigned following his arrest in New York on charges of attempted rape and sexual assault.

A lawyer who practiced in the U.S. before entering French government in 2005, Lagarde would bring frontline experience of the sovereign-debt crisis at a time when Greece is striving to persuade investors it can avert default.

The Swiss franc climbed against all of its 16 most-traded peers, reaching a record versus the euro, on concern Greece’s debt crisis threatens the region’s economic recovery. The franc strengthened 1 percent to 1.2287 per euro at 12:20 p.m. in New York after reaching 1.2272.

U.S. Backing

“No doubt Mr. Obama will come under pressure in Deauville about all of this,” Edwin Truman, a former official at both the U.S. Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve who is now a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, said by telephone.

Rather than jumping on the European bandwagon, the U.S. will probably reserve its backing for Lagarde until it becomes clear she has the broad support of IMF membership, Truman said.

While the fund’s executive board has pledged to act transparently and make an appointment based on merit, European leaders have moved swiftly to support Lagarde. U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne praised her leadership skills during France’s current presidency of the Group of 20, while Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi called her “excellent.” Jose Barroso, the European Commission president, said he “fully endorsed” Lagarde’s candidacy in an e-mailed statement today.

China is also “favorable” on the prospect of Lagarde leading the IMF, French government spokesman Francois Baroin said yesterday. Chinese officials haven’t publicly commented on specific candidates.

Strauss-Kahn Term

In exchange for its private support for the European contender, Brazil will push for Lagarde to run the fund only until the end of next year, when Strauss-Kahn’s term would have expired, said the Brazilian official, who requested anonymity because he isn’t authorized to speak publicly about the issue.

Lagarde said today that if named to the job, she’ll stay in it for a full five years, unlike Strauss-Kahn or his predecessor Rodrigo de Rato. “To me, it’s essential that the whole mandate be fulfilled,” she said. “If I’m elected, I promise to complete the mandate.”

“In a large number of countries there are extremely good people,” Charles Wyplosz, director of the International Center for Money and Banking Studies in Geneva, said in a radio interview with Tom Keene on “Bloomberg Surveillance.”

“The field should be open, and I personally am very upset that the Europeans are trying to close it down and prevent any serious competition,” he said.

The IMF provided a record $91.7 billion in emergency loans last year and accounts for one-third of the euro-region’s bailout packages. Its next chief will be at the center of debates on determining an escape route for the euro out of the debt crisis, which still threatens to push Greece, Ireland and Portugal into default and raised concern about the currency’s longevity.

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TOKYO

The U.S. trade deficit probably narrowed in February from a seven-month high as overseas demand for American goods outpaced the rising cost of imported oil, economists said before a report today.

The gap shrank to $44 billion from the $46.3 billion shortfall in January, according to the median of 71 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey ahead of Commerce Department data. Another report may show the price of goods from abroad increased in March by the most in more than a year.

Countries from Russia to Indonesia are ramping up demand for U.S. goods as their economies grow, benefiting manufacturers like Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) The global expansion is also pushing up costs of commodities like fuel, which means it will be difficult for the trade gap to narrow much more in coming months.

The Peoria, Illinois-based company may also benefit from President Barack Obama’s April 7 decision to ask Congress to approve a free-trade agreement with Colombia, one of Caterpillar’s 10 largest U no fax pay day loan.S. export markets by country.

“Colombia is a huge market for us,” Oberhelman said in an interview March 30. “There’s infrastructure, there’s mining. We send a lot of equipment today, all of it built in the Midwest, most of it built in central Illinois.”

Bloomberg News ============================================================== Trade Import Import Federal Balance Prices Prices Budget $ Blns MOM% YOY% $ Blns ============================================================== Date of Release 04/12 04/12 04/12 04/12 Observation Period Feb. March March March ————————————————————– Median -44.0 2.1% 8.6% -189.0 Average -44.5 2.1% 8.7% -180.3 High Forecast -41.0 3.9% 9.5% -60.0 Low Forecast -50.5 1.0% 8.1% -200.0 Number of Participants 71 50 14 28 Previous -46.3 1.4% 6.9% -65.4 ————————————————————– 4CAST Ltd. -43.5 1.8% — -189.0 Action Economics -43.0 2.5% — -189.0 Aletti Gestielle -47.5 — — — Ameriprise Financial -43.5 1.7% 8.2% — Banesto -43.9 1.9% — — Bank of Tokyo- Mitsubishi -50.5 2.1% — -190.0 Bantleon Bank AG — 1.8% — — Barclays Capital -44.5 2.4% 9.1% -190.0 Bayerische Landesbank -44.0 — — — BBVA -45.0 2.0% 8.6% -189.0 BMO Capital Markets -45.0 2.2% — -189.0 BNP Paribas -45.0 2.2% — — BofA Merrill Lynch -44.0 1.7% — -190.0 Briefing.com -45.0 — — -189.0 Capital Economics -44.0 — — — CIBC World Markets -46.0 — — — Citi -44.5 2.5% — -180.0 Commerzbank AG -43.0 — — — Credit Agricole CIB -44.0 — — — Credit Suisse -46.0 2.2% — — Daiwa Securities America -43.2 — — -190.0 DekaBank -44.0 2.5% 9.2% — Desjardins Group -45.9 1.8% — -189.0 Deutsche Bank Securities -43.0 2.0% — — Deutsche Postbank AG -42.5 1.7% 8.3% — DZ Bank -44.0 2.0% — — Fact & Opinion Economics -46.3 2.5% — -192.0 First Trust Advisors -41.9 2.5% — -189.0 FTN Financial -45.0 — — — Goldman, Sachs -42.5 — — -189.0 Helaba -42.5 — — — High Frequency Economics -43.0 2.3% — — HSBC Markets -44.0 2.6% 9.3% — Hugh Johnson Advisors -43.0 1.6% — — IDEAglobal -43.0 2.2% — -185.0 IHS Global Insight -44.3 — — — Informa Global Markets -43.0 1.9% — -189.0 ING Financial Markets -44.0 1.7% — -71.4 Insight Economics -46.5 2.5% — -189.0 Intesa-SanPaulo -43.5 2.0% — — J.P. Morgan Chase -44.5 1.7% 8.3% -189.0 Janney Montgomery Scott — 1.6% 8.2% — Jefferies & Co. -47.3 2.4% — — Landesbank Berlin -50.0 2.0% — — Landesbank BW -44.0 — — — Manulife Asset Management -45.0 1.5% 8.1% — MF Global -42.0 2.0% 8.5% -189.0 Mizuho Securities -45.0 1.5% — -60.0 Moody’s Analytics -42.6 2.3% — — Morgan Keegan & Co. -48.7 1.4% — — Morgan Stanley & Co. -45.0 — — -185.0 National Bank Financial -45.5 — — — Natixis -45.4 — — — Nomura Securities -42.2 — — -190.0 Nord/LB -44.5 2.2% — — Parthenon Group -44.0 1.0% — — Pierpont Securities -43.2 — — -190.0 PNC Bank -47.5 — — — Raiffeisenbank International -45.0 2.5% — — Raymond James -46.0 — — -189.0 RBC Capital Markets -42.4 2.8% 9.5% — RBS Securities -45.5 — — — Scotia Capital -43.0 — — — Societe Generale -43.1 3.9% — — Standard Chartered -46.0 — — — State Street Global Markets -43.9 2.2% 8.9% -188.7 Stone & McCarthy Research -44.6 2.3% — — TD Securities -45.0 2.0% — — UBS -42.0 2.0% 8.6% -189.0 Union Investment -46.0 — — — University of Maryland -42.6 2.0% — -200.0 Wells Fargo & Co. -46.8 2.6% 9.3% — Westpac Banking Co. — 2.2% — — Wrightson ICAP -41.0 2.2% — — ==============================================================

To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Kowalski in Washington at akowalski13@bloomberg.net

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American International Group Inc. (AIG), the insurer working to exit a U.S. government rescue, will pay its top executives $2.2 million less this year compared with 2010 as Chief Executive Officer Robert Benmosche’s compensation remains at $10.5 million.

The insurer, once the world’s largest, its compensation was approved by Patricia Geoghegan, the Obama administration’s acting special master for executive pay. AIG was saved from collapse in September 2008 by a federal bailout that ballooned to $182.3 billion. In the fourth quarter of 2008, AIG reported the biggest quarterly loss in U business cards.S. corporate history.

Benmosche, 66, has reshaped AIG through more than $50 billion of asset sales and is seeking private investors as the U.S. Treasury Department divests its 92 percent stake. Benmosche sold a non-U.S. life insurer to MetLife Inc. (MET) for $16.2 billion and raised $20.5 billion divesting a majority stake in Hong Kong-based AIA Group Ltd.

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Joblessness in the U.S. unexpectedly fell to 8.9 percent in February, the lowest level in almost two years, and employers boosted payrolls amid growing confidence in the expansion.

The rate dropped for a third straight month and employment climbed by 192,000, according to Labor Department figures released yesterday in Washington. The median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of economists projected unemployment would climb to 9.1 percent.

Hiring was widespread, with manufacturing, construction and transportation companies adding workers, underscoring Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s testimony to Congress this week that there are “grounds for optimism” in the labor market. Job gains are giving consumers the means to keep spending at retailers such as J.C. Penney Co. and Macy’s Inc. (M)

Some U.S. companies are ramping up hiring. Santa Clara, California-based Intel Corp. (INTC), the world’s largest chipmaker, and Home Depot Inc. (HD), based on Atlanta, announced plans last month to hire thousands of workers.

“We believe that we are in a continued positive economic recovery that will lead to positive labor growth over the course of the next couple of years,” Carl Camden, chief executive officer at Troy, Michigan-based temporary staffing provider Kelly Services Inc. (KELYA), said Feb. 24 at a conference in Boston. “We see strength in U.S. conditions.”

J.C. Penney, based in Plano, Texas, New York-based Macy’s and Ross Stores Inc. (ROST) were among retailers this week reporting February same-store sales that topped analysts’ estimates. Purchases at stores open at least a year climbed 6.4 percent at J.C. Penney, 5.8 percent at Macy’s and 3 percent at Pleasanton, California-based Ross, company data showed.

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This year, the big national wireless carriers will be racing to stake their claims in the new frontier of service: ultra-fast data access _ for smart phones and laptops as well as for gadgets like tablets.

The companies are boosting their wireless data speeds and revving up the marketing hype. They’re moving away from talking about call quality and coverage, and focusing on data speeds: megabits in place of minutes. For consumers, there are benefits in the form of faster service and cooler gadgets. Yet some of the marketing campaigns seem designed to confuse consumers about the gadgets’ speed.

At the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week, Verizon Wireless revealed the 10 gadgets with built-in access to its new high-speed wireless data network, including smart phones, tablet and laptops. Some are to launch as early as March.

Along with Sprint Nextel Corp.’s subsidiary Clearwire Corp., Verizon is at the forefront of the move to a new network technology, designed to relay data rather than calls. Verizon’s fourth-generation, or “4G” network, went live for laptop modems in last month.

The new wireless network is the nation’s fastest. Verizon is hoping to cash in on that advantage by selling tablets and smart phones that devour data.

One of the devices, Motorola Mobility Inc.’s Xoom tablet, will come with a 10.1-inch screen and two cameras: one for video chatting, the other for high-definition videos. The Xoom will begin selling by March. Initially, it will work with Verizon’s 3G network but will be upgradeable to work on the speedier 4G network.

Motorola’s Droid Bionic smart phone will also have two cameras, to help with videoconferencing, a data-hungry task. It will be one of the first phones with a so-called “dual-core processor” that will roughly double its computing capacity. That should help with video processing.

LG Electronics Inc., Samsung Electronics Co. and HTC Corp. are bringing out similar phones for the network. Hewlett-Packard Co. is adding 4G capability to a laptop and a netbook.

There will also be two “mobile hotspot” devices for the network: small battery-powered bricks that act as Wi-Fi access points, connecting Wi-Fi-equipped computers to the 4G network.

Verizon didn’t reveal what the new devices or wireless plans will cost.

Verizon’s size _ by number of subscribers, it’s the largest U.S. wireless carrier _ and the quality of its network are helping it gain traction with manufacturers.

“By deciding to go early and go first to (4G), we sent a signal to the entire consumer electronics market that this technology would develop very quickly,” said Lowell McAdam, Verizon’s president and chief operating officer, in a keynote address at the trade show Thursday.

There’s speculation that Verizon will get to sell a version of Apple Inc.’s iPhone this year. That would break AT&T Inc.’s exclusive hold on the most popular smart phone. But there was no talk of an iPhone from Verizon at Thursday’s events.

With or without the iPhone, Verizon’s new network is pressuring its competitors to step up their offerings. AT&T Inc. on Wednesday said it’s on track to launch its own 4G network this summer. Also, it said it will start calling its current 3G network “4G,” since it’s been upgraded to be capable of nearly 4G speeds.

T-Mobile USA said Thursday that it will upgrade its 3G network to double the possible download speeds in two-thirds of its coverage area cash till payday advance. It started calling the network “4G” in ads last fall. It, too, revealed two tablets for its network, to launch later this year.

Sprint and Clearwire have chosen a slightly different route to 4G. They’ve picked a 4G technology called WiMax that was ready before Long Term Evolution, or LTE, which Verizon is using.

Now, however, WiMax looks set to be a niche technology, while the rest of the industry adopts LTE. That will hamper Sprint’s efforts to get competitive devices for the network. Still, it was able to launch its first 4G phone last summer, ahead of the competition. On Wednesday, it announced it would be the first to carry a 4G tablet computer from Research In Motion Ltd., the maker of the BlackBerry, some time this summer.

The most distinctive feature of 4G technologies like LTE and WiMax is that they’re designed to carry data rather than phone calls. That makes them more efficient at serving today’s smart phones, tablets and other gadgets that need data access on the go. It also makes the networks cheaper to build out and manage.

They’re faster than today’s 3G networks, though not by much, which makes T-Mobile and AT&T feel justified in calling their upgraded 3G networks “4G.” After all, they say, speed is what really matters to users.

Aside from the bump in speed, the main reason the LTE buildouts of Verizon Wireless and AT&T significant is that they add fresh spectrum to the nation’s wireless networks. That means more capacity for the growing number of mobile gadgets.

Also, both companies are using spectrum that was previously used for UHF TV channels, a prime piece of the airwaves. It can cover wide areas easily and penetrate deep into buildings. (Clearwire’s WiMax network uses a frequency that has shorter range and more difficulty penetrating buildings.)

Future upgrades can further boost the speed of wireless networks. But at some point, they will run out of room for improvement. There’s a theoretical limit for how much information a certain slice of the airwaves can carry. When that happens, there will still be two ways to add capacity to wireless broadband.

The government can assign more spectrum, perhaps by taking it from TV stations. But spectrum, too, will run out. The carriers can add more cell towers, but that’s expensive and difficult. They can’t put cell towers everywhere they’d like.

Given these limiting factors, wireless broadband isn’t likely to ever replace wireline connections for home broadband, except possibly in rural areas where it’s expensive to draw cables for high-speed connections to homes.

The U.S. is at the forefront in the international race to LTE. Verizon’s buildout is the world’s largest. The U.S. was faster than most other countries in taking back airwaves from TV stations and selling it off for wireless broadband.

Another reason Verizon has been aggressive about LTE is that its 3G network uses a technology that isn’t upgradable to higher speeds as AT&T’s and T-Mobile’s are. That’s left it with a burning need for the next network technology.

Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications Inc. and Vodafone Group PLC of Britain. Motorola Mobility Inc. was formed this week as Motorola Inc. split into two parts. The Mobility consists of the cell phone business.

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