Assets in retirement accounts have lost 2

The Center for Responsive Politics said executives offinance, insurance and real estate companies and their familymembers gave $7.1 million to Obama's inaugural committee. Bankers and hedge fund managers will mingle with Hollywoodstars and Silicon Valley high-technology titans at theswearing-in ceremony for the 44th president, the parade downPennsylvania Avenue and the balls and parties that follow. Special access and tickets are reportedly available tothose who contributed $50,000 to the inaugural committee or whohelped "bundle" larger sums from multiple individual donors,the center said. The committee refused to accept money from corporations,registered lobbyists, unions or political action committees. Entertainers such as Halle Berry, Samuel Jackson and SharonStone donated heavily, as did behind-the-camera mogulsincluding Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and JeffreyKatzenberg, the center said, citing data downloaded from thePresidential Inaugural Committee's Web site. "While Americans are hoping for real change in Washington,many deep-pocketed donors are hoping money still buys themaccess and influence," said Sheila Krumholz, executive directorof the nonpartisan money-in-politics watchdog group.

People with Wall Street ties 118 of them gave $3.6million; lawyers gave $2.5 million; and donors from the TV,movie and music businesses gave $1.7 million, the center said. The center's analysis of inauguration donors was posted onits Web site at (Editing by Vicki Allen) Regulatory News Funds News ETFs News Private Capital. MOSCOW, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Russia's state-run gas giantGazprom said on Saturday it expected to sign a deal with Ukraineresolving the dispute which has interrupted supplies of Russiangas to Europe, Russian news agencies reported. Stocks Global Markets Russia "We expect that today documents will be signed," Interfaxnews agency quoted Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov as sayingon the sidelines of a Kremlin meeting of gas consumers. "Themain thing now is to resolve the transit question." A Ukrainian delegation headed by Prime Ministry YuliaTymoshenko was in Moscow on Saturday for talks with RussianPrime Minister Vladimir Putin. (Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge, editing by Michael Stott) Stocks Global Markets Russia.

CINCINNATI (Reuters) - Miriam Gorman wanted to retire more than a year ago, but steep financial losses in her retirement savings mean the 71-year-old bookkeeper now plans to work on indefinitely. U.S. Lifestyle"I would have preferred to retire at the end of 2007, and then I was thinking at the end of this year, and now maybe it's next year. I really don't know," said Gorman, who's been with an advertising company in Bethesda, Maryland, for 15 years.Across America, older workers are postponing retirement plans, dismayed by huge losses in the value of the investments they had depended on to fund their retirement The U.S. The stock market is plunging, jobs are hard to find, and home values are sagging. This creates a really difficult environment in which to contemplate retiring," said Richard Johnson, an expert in seniors and retirement at the Urban Institute, a Washington think-tank.Assets in retirement accounts have lost $2.8 trillion, or 32 percent of their value, as of December 2, 2008, compared with September 30, 2007, according to the institute.These financial losses have translated to a huge shift in American retirement plans.A December survey by the senior's advocacy group AARP showed 57 percent of Americans aged 45 or over who lost money in their investments over the past year and who are working or looking for work expect to delay retirement. One in four have already postponed plans to retire, the survey showed.A separate poll by consulting firm Towers Perrin, also from December, showed nearly two-thirds of U.S.