06 a barrelafter gaining 5 percent overnight

"The main things are the Obama plans as well as the Germanfiscal stimulus package," said Bernard McAlinden, marketstrategist at NCB Stockbrokers. Higher oil prices helped boost energy stocks, but sharpgains may cause some headline inflation problems later forcentral banks intent on cutting interest rates. Crude hit a one-month high above $50 a barrel, driven higherby heightened concern about supply disruptions stemming fromIsrael's incursion into Gaza and a dispute between Russia andUkraine over natural gas. "Oil prices continue to be supported by political issues,whether they be gas or Gaza related," Rob Laughlin, broker at MFGlobal, said.U.S.

crude prices CLc1 rose $1.25 to $50.06 a barrelafter gaining 5 percent overnight. "With the situation in Europe deteriorating quite rapidly itleaves the euro quite vulnerable," said Ian Stannard, seniorcurrency strategist at BNP Paribas in London. The euro EUR fell around 1.9 percent to $1.3351 accordingto Reuters data. Against the yen, the dollar rose 0.7 percent to94.08 yen JPY. On euro zone government bond markets, the interestrate-sensitive 2-year Schatz yield EU2YTRR was flat at 1.694percent, while 10-year Bund yields EU10YTRR were up 4 basispoints at 3.058 percent.(Additional reporting by Joanne Frearson and Veronica Brown,editing by Patrick Graham) Stocks Currencies Bonds Russia.

6/PRNewswire-FirstCall/ VASCO Data Security International, Inc.(Nasdaq: VDSI) ( http://), a leading software security companyspecializing in authentication products, today announced that, considering acombination of the deterioration of the economy in the U.S. and a number ofdelayed orders in other geographic markets in Q4, VASCO is reducing its 2008revenue guidance.We expect our revenue growth for 2008 to be in a range of 9 to 12compared to 2007.Further, we expect that our full year Gross Margin andOperating Margin to be within the previously announced ranges.Although we are initiating a cost containment program going forward, weexpect that the investments we made in people and infrastructure in 2008 willresult in positive returns in 2009.As we experience those expected positiveresults in 2009, we will continue to fund opportunities for growth."Weak results in Q4 have forced VASCO to reduce its revenue guidance forfull year 2008 to 9 to 12 over its revenues in 2007," said T. Kendall Hunt,VASCO's Chairman & CEO."We believe that the lower revenue in Q4 primarilyreflects the uncertainty related to economic conditions worldwide which hasresulted in a longer sales process and a delay in orders.Nevertheless, wecontinue to see strong interest in our products.In response to thisdifficult economic climate, VASCO's management is taking decisive action.First, VASCO is increasing its focus on its more productive markets.Theseinclude the growing financial markets of Brazil, Russia, India and China(BRIC) and the more mature markets of EMEA and the Region of Singapore wherewe continue to sell to the financial and non-financial industries.Secondly,VASCO is initiating a cost containment program intended to respond to thesedifficult economic times and to maintain a profitable business.The Company'smanagement team is determined to steer the Company through this challengingeconomic situation.The Company is profitable, has strong worldwide business,a large installed customer base, a solid balance sheet, no long-term debt, anda healthy cash position."Conference Call DetailsIn conjunction with this announcement, VASCO Data Security International,Inc. will host a conference call today, January 6, 2009, at 10:00 a.m. EST -16:00h CET.To participate in this Conference Call, please dial one of the followingnumbers:US/Canada dial in - 800-732-5617International dial in - 1 212-231-2900Mention the VASCO conference call to be connected.About VASCOVASCO is a leading supplier of strong authentication and e-signaturesolutions and services specializing in Internet Security applications andtransactions.VASCO has positioned itself as global software company forInternet Security serving a customer base of approximately 8,000 companies inmore than 100 countries, including more than 1,200 international financialinstitutions.

VASCO's prime markets are the financial sector, enterprisesecurity, e-commerce and e-government.Forward Looking StatementsStatements made in this news release that relate to future plans, eventsor performances are forward-looking statements. Any statement containing wordssuch as "believes," "anticipates," "plans," "expects," "intended/meant," andsimilar words, is forward-looking, and these statements involve risks anduncertainties and are based on current expectations. Peyton Manning's consistency is scary.Has a quarterback, or any player for that matter, been so good at beating defenses for so long There's been many exceptional players throughout the history of the league, but of Manning's caliberI'm not so sure.It would be feasible to argue that Manning is one of the top-10 players of all-time at any position. His Indianapolis Colts have been the most consistent winning team of the decade.If it weren't for those Tom Brady and Bill Belichick guys, Manning would have more than one Super Bowl ring.Brady is an amazing player, but Manning has him beat and I will argue this until my face turns as blue as the Coors Light mountains on the bottle when it's cold.Brady has more championships and post-season wins. That's where his edge on Peyton stops.Manning has more MVP awards, a better winning percentage in the regular season and his statistics are off of the charts.Not to mention, Brady had the support of a strong defense while Manning's defense didn't become potent until the championship season of 2007.Here is a look into the decades two best QB's statistics:Manning: 190 games, 4,204/6,492, 64.8 pct., 49,841 yards, 366 TD, 180 INT, 95.3 passer rating, 131 regular-season wins, 7 post-seasonBrady: 127 games, 2,632/4,166, 63.2 pct., 30,391 yards, 221 TD, 98 INT, 93.0 passer rating, 110 regular season wins, 14 post-seasonWe can argue who's better or more influential out of these two for eons, but we have a 2009 NFL MVP race to get to.In a system that I've used to rate the NBA's MVP in the past, we're going to look at the NFL MVP from 200 down to one.In other words, from the worst of the league to the best.Who's this year's Least Valuable Player Let's get it started. 200. Derek Anderson, Cleveland Browns LVP of 2009Man how fast things can hit the ceiling fan and spin out of control in the NFL. Trent Edwards, Buffalo BillsBuffalo has managed to be the franchise with the most dimmed hopes of the decade.