capital position, leftward, tug of war

 tug of war, white or colored holiday light

A Tug of War, With Strings of Lights

By CARA BUCKLEY

The origins of the debate over white or colored holiday light are vague, but the battle is renewed every year.

tug of war
n., pl., tugs of war.

1. Games. A contest of strength in which two teams tug on opposite ends of a rope, each trying to pull the other across a dividing line.
2. A struggle for supremacy: a political tug of war between those in favor of the proposal and those against it.

MF Global Fights to Stay Afloat After Two Credit Downgrades MF Global, the commodities and derivatives brokerage house, was in a fight for its life Thursday night after the firm drew down its main credit line and two major credit ratings agencies cut their ratings on the firm to junk.

MF Global is scrambling to sell some or all of itself. The firm has enough assets to survive for at least the next few days, said a person outside the firm who was briefed on its condition.

The pressure on MF Global is mounting even as a deal over Greece's debt has provided market relief to other American financial institutions. Investors have grown increasingly worried about MF Global's capital position, given its exposure to $6.3 billion in debt from Italy, Spain, Belgium, Ireland and Portugal.


Merkel's Leftward Shift Positions Her to Win

When German voters go to the polls, Angela Merkel is almost assured re-election -- not for keeping the campaign promises she made four years ago, but for breaking most of them.

leftward
adv. & adj.
To or on the left.
━━ a., ad. 左の方の［へ］.
⇒left¹