Strike: Beginning with Saturday night’s R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl—which set a new attendance record when nearly 43,000 turned out to see the UL Ragin’ Cajuns beat San Diego State in a thriller—three college football games are expected to bring at least 160,000 visitors to New Orleans over a three-week stretch culminating Jan. 9, when LSU plays Alabama in the BCS championship game. The Times-Picayune reports officials estimate the economic impact of the three bowl games, which also include the Allstate Sugar Bowl on Jan. 3, will exceed $425 million. The city last hosted all three games in 2007-08. Read the full story here.
The down low: Natural gas futures opened the week at their lowest level in more than two years as forecasts for warmer weather in the coming days have dashed hopes for increased demand, The Wall Street Journal reports. Gas futures for January delivery fell as low as $3.084 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange last week, before recovering to trade up 2.1 cents to $3.148. Natural-gas futures are now trading at their lowest level since Sept. 14, 2009. Gas prices have been plummeting since June, as a combination of robust production and tepid demand has led to a supply glut.
Princely sum: Prince Walid bin Talal of Saudi Arabia has picked up a $300 million stake in the social media site Twitter, thus expanding his holdings in the United States, The New York Times reports. The investment by billionaire Prince Walid and his investment company, Kingdom Holding, represents roughly 3% of the company. Prince Walid, who owns 95% of Kingdom Holding, says in a statement the purchase is part of a strategy “to invest in promising, high-growth businesses with a global impact.” With Twitter, Prince Walid—who also owns stakes in American blue chip companies including Citigroup, General Motors and Apple—gains a foothold in the fast-growing social networking space. Read the full story here.
