03.18.10
Posted in All, Free blog Tips, news, online, world of money tagged news, opinion, politics, reviews, work at 6:06 am by carydalton
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — John Thain won a reputation on Wall Street as Mr. Fixit.
He was known for rebuilding the New York Stock Exchange after the controversial reign of Richard Grasso and selling Merrill Lynch & Co. at a premium to Bank of America Corp.
CIT Group Inc. is a different challenge altogether. Thain, on Wednesday, laid out the dire situation: CIT’s book value, $41.99 a share, is at a premium to its stock price by 16%. The lender lost $3.8 billion in 2009. Thain’s is struggling with personnel. He’s trying to beef up the senior ranks. See full report on Thain’s discussion of CIT.
“We’re going to have to focus on that debt structure to get ourselves in a position where the funding costs are more in line with our businesses,” Thain said.
CIT’s model of lending to small- and medium-sized businesses and then repackaging that debt is as broken as the debt market on which it depends. The company did report a fourth-quarter profit of $3.15 billion after it emerged from bankruptcy at the end of last year, but without bankruptcy, CIT would have lost $1 billion and some analysts believe the company will lose money in 2010 business card templates.
If there is little confidence in CIT, there is confidence in Thain. CIT shares added 4% in early trading Wednesday after Thain hosted his first conference call with investors. He said credit quality is improving at CIT. Charge-offs improved to 4.77% of finance receiveables in the final quarter of 2009, about half the level of the previous quarter. See WSJ story on CIT credit provisions.
Ultimately, Thain will have to convince the market that CIT’s $46.1 billion in finance and leasing assets are solid. The quality of the assets needs to be established. And Thain seems to be getting an initial break from the market even though his record at Merrill in disclosing bad assets is dubious.
Thain has a measure of confidence for now, but ultimately CIT’s business model, not the CEO, will make or break the company’s fortunes.
- David Weidner
MarketWatch First Take: Thain has no magical fix for CIT
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03.14.10
Posted in .com, All, Free blog Tips, shortly, world of money tagged economics, economy, financial, marketing, reviews at 10:06 am by carydalton
LONDON (Reuters) – The euro zone has agreed a multi-billion euro bailout for heavily indebted Greece as part of a package to support the euro, the Guardian newspaper reported on Saturday.
The 16 euro zone members have agreed on "coordinated bilateral contributions" in the form of loans or loan guarantees to Greece if Athens is unable to refinance its debts and asks the European Union for help, the Guardian quoted a senior European Commission official as saying.
The agreement was reached despite strong resistance by Germany, and Berlin has played the pivotal role in organizing the deal, the paper quoted other sources as saying.
Euro zone finance ministers will finalize the package on Monday, the paper said.
The aid to be made available by the bailout could reach 25 billion euros, the paper quoted its sources as saying. Greece's borrowing needs for the whole of 2010 total 53.2 billion euros.
Greece, laboring under a crippling debt burden, announced a 4.8 billion euro package of austerity measures last week designed to reduce its budget deficit to 8.7 percent of GDP this year from 12.7 percent in 2009.
It has been paying a high premium over benchmark European bonds to raise funds, the yield spread of 10-year Greek government paper over bunds topping 400 basis points in January.
The bailout "will be a coordinated approach of bilateral contributions … a bilateral contribution can be a loan or a loan guarantee. The guarantees will facilitate the kind of funds potentially needed in this context," the paper quoted the senior Commission official as saying auto loans.
The agreement has been tailored to avoid breaking the ban, in the rules governing the operation of the euro currency, on a bailout for a country on the brink of bankruptcy, and to avoid a challenge by Germany's supreme court, the official said.
The Commission is also rushing through tougher rules for the euro zone to set up rigorous "budgetary surveillance" of the 16 member states, the Guardian said. Greece has in the past provided the European Union with misleading economic statistics.
"The Greek case is a turning point for the euro zone," the Guardian also quoted EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn as saying in an interview with it and other European papers.
"If Greece fails and we fail, this will do serious and maybe permanent damage to the credibility of the European Union. The euro is not only a monetary arrangement but a core political project of the European Union … in that sense we are at a crossroads."
Rehn said he would propose next month a regime of "rigorous surveillance of national budgets" including giving Eurostat, the EU statistics agency, big new auditing powers over the accounts of euro zone member states.
(Reporting by Tim Pearce)
Euro zone agrees bailout for Greece: report
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03.02.10
Posted in .com, All, Free blog Tips, business, top tagged campaign, finance, markets, personal, reviews at 6:00 am by carydalton
FORT WORTH, Texas – Natural gas and oil producer Quicksilver Resources Inc. posted a fourth-quarter profit of $32.5 million, or 19 cents per share, Monday as revenue grew, compared with a loss a year earlier, when it recorded several charges.
A year earlier, the company lost $467 million, or $2.79 per share.
The results, which beat Wall Street’s expectations, sent Quicksilver’s shares up 50 cents, or 3.4 percent, to $15.42. The stock has traded the past 52 weeks at $3.98 to $16.59.
Excluding one-time items, the company earned $47.3 million, or 27 cents per share, up from an adjusted profit of $39.3 million, or 23 cents per share, a year earlier home kerosene heaters.
Revenue rose 12 percent to $234.1 million from $208.9 million.
Analysts, on average, were expecting a profit of 25 cents per share on sales of $217.4 million, according to a poll by Thomson Reuters.
For the full year, Quicksilver posted a loss of $557.5 million, or $3.30 per share, compared with a loss of $378.3 million, or $2.33 per share, a year earlier.
Adjusted earnings were 86 cents per share for 2009.
Revenue rose to $832.7 million from $800.6 million.
Quicksilver reports profitable 4Q, shares climb
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02.23.10
Posted in All, hot news, money, news, top tagged All, blogs, life, marketing, political at 1:48 pm by carydalton
Filed at 2:06 a.m. ET
* Forecasts lower beer consumption in many regions in 2010
* Price increases set to be less than in 2009
* 2009 operating profit 2.095 bln euros vs forecast 2.10 bln
(Adds details, background)
BRUSSELS, Feb 23 (Reuters) - Heineken NV , the world’s third-largest brewer, forecast lower beer consumption in many regions, limited price increases and few cost benefits this year after reporting 2009 results broadly in line with expectations.
Heineken, like other brewers, suffered from recession-conscious consumers drinking less beer in 2009 but succeeded in pushing through price increases.
“The global economic environment will continue to lead to lower beer consumption and down-trading in a number of regions in 2010,” Heineken said in a statement on Tuesday.
The Dutch company, whose chief brands are Heineken and Amstel, Europe’s No.1 and No.3 beers, said it was committed to maintaining or increasing prices and would continue to pass on excise duty rises to consumers.
However, it said that price increases would not be as steep this year as they were in 2009.
The likely fall in raw material costs per hectolitre due to a temporary decline in the price of brewing barley would be offset by higher energy costs, rising advertising rates and increased marketing costs.
It would continue to drive through its three-year total cost management plan, which yielded 155 million euros in savings to operating income its first year in 2009 easy fast payday loans.
Heineken said that earnings before interest, tax (EBIT), and one-offs rose by 14 percent on a like-for-like basis to 2.095 billion euros ($2.85 billion) in 2009. The average forecast in a Reuters poll of 14 analysts was 2.10 billion euros.
That came despite a 5.4 percent fall in underlying consolidated beer volumes. A 4.5 percent improvement in pricing and sales mix translated into a 0.2 percent drop in revenue. Cost cutting then explained the profit increase.
World No.2 SABMiller said last month that its underlying beer volumes were flat in the last three months of 2009 as consumer demand in emerging markets offset declines in Europe, North America and South Africa.
Heineken’s pain has been greater than its peers given that some 70 percent of the Dutch brewer’s operating profit comes from the more sluggish European and North American markets.
Heineken bought Scottish & Newcastle with Carlsberg for 7.8 billion pounds ($12.06 billion) in 2008, chiefly getting the British assets.
However, it is set to boost its emerging market presence to 40 percent by buying the beer business of Mexico’s FEMSA. [ID:nLDE60A0DL]
Carlsberg also reports 2009 results on Tuesday. ($1=.7340 euros) ($1=.6469 pounds)
Heineken Sees Difficult 2010
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02.16.10
Posted in All, money, news, shortly, world of money tagged economics, financial, opinion, political, reviews at 10:48 am by carydalton
LONDON (Reuters) – Consolidation is needed in the global oil refining sector, the chief economist of BP Plc (BP.L) said on Monday, indicating more tough decisions ahead for an industry beset by poor margins.
Oil companies including BP and Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) have reported billions of dollars of losses from their refining business in the fourth quarter 2009 as the economic crisis hit fuel demand.
"To put it bluntly and shortly, there will have to be some consolidation in the global refining industry," BP's Christof Ruehl said at the IP Week oil and gas industry conference.
Oil refiners faced a double blow in 2009 when world demand for fuel fell because of recession just as a host of new refining projects planned during the boom years came on stream, squeezing margins.
Additions to global oil refining capacity in 2009 were the highest in 30 years, Ruehl estimates.
Shell is looking to divest 15 percent of its global refining. U.S. rival Chevron (CVX.N) plans to close some of its refineries but has yet to say where.
The BP official said so-called simple refineries — without the capacity to convert heavy oil products into lighter fuels such as gasoline — would be most likely to close. Still, it was not simply a matter of closing plants for good.
"This is most likely to be not just about permanent shutdowns — it's about mothballing, running down crude runs, changing configurations," he told reporters.
DISADVANTAGE
Refineries in developed markets will be at a disadvantage compared with those in emerging markets, where governments often subsidies fuel prices, BP's Ruehl said payday loans.
"You would expect the impact on refiners to be worse in countries where there is no protection," he said.
Ruehl said he expected global refining utilization rates to fall in 2010.
Oil demand in developed OECD countries has peaked, according to BP and some other forecasts, while consumption is still expected to rise in emerging economies, such as China, for the foreseeable future.
Ruehl said he expected oil majors to seek acquisitions in China and other parts of Asia.
"These are the growing markets," he said.
An Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) executive attending the conference said the company was always reviewing the profitability of its assets worldwide, but any sale of the Exxon's Fawley refinery in the UK was not on the agenda.
"We continue to look at the economics of our operations around the world," Brad Corson, chairman of Exxon Mobil International, said when asked if the company planned any refinery sales.
"We currently have the largest refinery in the UK, Fawley refinery. We pride ourselves on being one of the most cost-effective refineries in the European region and as such we have no imminent plans in that regard."
(Editing by James Jukwey)
Global oil refining sector needs consolidation: BP
Hot News: China Sees Growth Engine in a Web of Fast Trains
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02.15.10
Posted in All, Free blog Tips, economic, hot news, news tagged All, business, money, politics, reviews at 1:42 am by carydalton
ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Rain, low clouds and predicted high winds Sunday grounded searchers seeking the body of a ConocoPhillips Alaska employee missing and presumed dead in an avalanche that killed the head of the company.
The avalanche at around noon Saturday on the Kenai Peninsula buried Jim Bowles, 57, head of ConocoPhillips Alaska, and Alan Gage, 39, part of the company’s capital projects team in Anchorage. Gage remains missing.
“The weather is not cooperating and it’s not conducive to search,” said Megan Peters, a spokeswoman for the Alaska State Troopers.
The men were in a party of 12 snowmobilers in the Grandview wilderness area, part of the Chugach National Forest, between the tiny communities of Moose Pass and Portage.
Bowles was buried for about 45 minutes before companions using avalanche beacons dug him out. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Gage apparently was not wearing an avalanche beacon, troopers said.
Troopers and U.S. Forest Service personnel rode snowmobiles 15 miles to reach the scene. The railroad brought in Girdwood Fire Department personnel and a trooper helicopter flew in from Anchorage.
Ridgetop winds Saturday averaged 10 to 20 mph and mountain temperatures were in the mid-20s to low 30s. Conditions deteriorated overnight, with two inches of new snow falling at Turnagain Pass, about 15 miles north of Grandview.
Ridgetop winds Sunday ramped up, averaging 30 mph with gusts to 40. A strong low pressure area in the Gulf of Alaska was expected to bring gale to storm force easterly winds, rain at sea level, and up to 12 inches of new snow at higher elevations.
The Chugach National Forest Avalanche Information Center said the avalanche danger rose to “considerable” with pockets of “high” hazard as the storm progressed.
“We pretty much hit the tipping point the last few days, and this next storm will just add more stress to a snowpack with significant buried weak layers,” said forecaster Lisa Portune on the center’s Web site free credit scores.
Forecaster Carl Skustad said the snowmobile party was in moderate terrain, with probably a 35 to 40 degree slope. However, with the weak snow layer underneath, that can be enough for snow to let loose, he said.
Emergency officials said a search would resume when weather improved and avalanche danger subsided.
Bowles joined Conoco in 1974. He was named head of Alaska operations, overseeing about 900 employees since in late 2004. Jim Mulva, ConocoPhillips chairman and chief executive officer, said in a statement Sunday that Bowles presided over developments that ensured the company’s place and standing in Alaska.
“On behalf of everyone at ConocoPhillips, including those who had the privilege to know and work with these two gentlemen and those who did not, I want to extend our sincere condolences to the Bowles family and our heartfelt best wishes to the Gage family and make sure they know the high regard in which we hold Jim and Alan, both as co-workers and as friends.”
Gov. Sean Parnell issued a statement saying he and his wife, Sandy, were saddened by Bowles’ death and lauded his work in Alaska.
“Jim brought so much to our state: his love of the great outdoors, his leadership of ConocoPhillips Alaska, and his dedication to making Alaska a better place for all of us to call home,” Parnell said.
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said Bowles was a great partner in the responsible development of Alaska’s natural resources.
A third man was caught in another avalanche and killed Saturday near Eagle River on Anchorage’s north side.
William Brasher Schorr, 60, was skiing alone near the top of a ridge while a friend waited near the bottom for his arrival. A witness saw the slide begin from his home. Schorr’s body was recovered about 45 minutes later.
Weather halts Alaska search for avalanche victim
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02.13.10
Posted in All, economic, hot news, news, top tagged All, campaign, life, opinion, personal at 11:12 pm by carydalton
The global coal industry is in the midst of a permanent structural shift in the form of the emerging dominance of the Asia-Pacific region.
China and India are at the heart of the transformation, firmly placed as the world's No. 1 and No. 3 biggest coal producing nations, respectively. (The U.S. is No. 2.)
And demand in the world's two most populous nations is growing rapidly.
India's imports of thermal coal, used in power generation, rose 60% in 2009 to 57 million tons. China shifted to a net importer last year to the tune of 70 million tons of thermal coal, despite large domestic resources of the black rock.
Both countries are also experiencing a spike in demand for metallurgical coal, a main ingredient of steel, as their economies continue to mushroom.
At the end of January, Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU - News) said it is expanding a mine in Australia at a cost of $70 million to boost capacity by 1 million tons within several years to meet growing demand for metallurgical, or met coal, used by steel companies in China, India and other Asian nations.
"China and India have permanently changed the seaborne metallurgical and thermal coal market landscape," CEO Gregory Boyce said. Peabody enjoyed a 37% increase in Australian coal shipments in the second half of 2009.
Alpha Natural Resources (NYSE:ANR - News) said it sees much strength in the metallurgical markets in 2010. It raised its metallurgical shipment guidance by about 1 million tons, to 11 million to 13 million tons for this year.
Meanwhile back in the U.S., the enormous stockpiles of coal racked up by utilities during the depths of the recession are starting to shrink after extremely cold weather in December and January.
According to U.S. utilities, which use coal to generate nearly half of America's electricity, roughly 50 to 60 gigawatts of coal will go offline over the next 10 years or so.
The U.S. will need to replace that energy, and renewables such as solar, wind, small hydro, modern biomass, geothermal and biofuels are one of the paths to take to fill that void.
1. Business
IBD's Energy-Other group includes any energy source that is not oil or natural gas. The group's 800-pound gorilla is coal.
Coal mining, especially underground, is a capital- and labor-intensive business. It is also a very high fixed-cost business.
Electricity demand has been the primary value driver for thermal and steam coal for a long time, with steel being the other big driving force.
In 2009, the U.S. produced 1.08 billion tons of coal, mined primarily from four major coal basins with smaller ones spread across the country. The four are the northern and central Appalachian basins, the Illinois basin and northern Wyoming's Powder River Basin.
Peabody is the largest U.S. coal miner, producing 215 million tons last year. It is the only U.S.-based company in the group with international mining operations, in this case Australia.
Arch Coal (NYSE:ACI - News) is the second-largest company in the group; Alpha Natural Resources moved into the No. 3 slot with last year's acquisition of Foundation Coal for $1.4 billion in stock. Consol Energy (NYSE:CNX - News) and Massey Energy (NYSE:MEE - News) are fourth and fifth, respectively.
The U.S. is capable of generating roughly 1,000 gigawatts of electricity per year. Coal generates some 325 gigawatts, natural gas kicks in 400 and nuclear makes up another 100, according to Brian Gamble, an analyst at Simmons & Co. The rest, he says, is split between hydropower, solar, wind, geothermal and biomass.
"The segment of the U.S. power grid that is made up of renewables is quite small," Gamble said. "It is a growing market, albeit from a small base, but we don't expect solar, wind or any other renewable to gain significant market share for some time."
The group includes several solar companies, including Chinese firms like Trina Solar (NYSE:TSL - News) and Suntech Power (NYSE:STP - News).
First Solar (NMS:FSLR) is the largest U.S.-based solar company by market share. Other American firms include Real Goods Solar (NMS:RSOL), GT Solar International (NMS:SOLR) and SunPower (NMS:SPWRA).
While multinationals such as GE (NYSE:GE - News) and Siemens (NYSE:SI - News) have made a strong push into wind power, those diversified industrial giants are listed in other stock groups. In the Energy-Other group, Danish company Vestas Wind Systems (OTCBB:VWDRY.ob - News) is the largest wind-power company.
Ormat Technologies (NYSE:ORA - News) and U.S. Geothermal (AMEX:HTM.a - News) operate plants of geothermal energy, power generated from heat stored in the Earth payday advance.
Name Of The Game: It's simple: produce and supply coal, wind, solar, hydropower and other renewables to fulfill the world's energy needs, which are expected to grow rapidly over the next 20 to 30 years, says Michael Dudas, an analyst with Jefferies & Co.
2. Market
U.S. utilities are the biggest customers for coal producers and renewable energy alike.
Steel makers are the next biggest consumers of coal.
The entire coal market, which is dominated by the publicly traded miners and small mom-and-pops, is estimated at roughly north of $52 billion. The U.S. is expected to produce 1.07 billion tons of coal this year, with public coal companies churning out more than half that output.
The renewables market is a bit tougher to size as the adoption of these alternative energies is still in early phases. But rough estimates for the global wind and solar market is roughly $100 billion, with 70% of that produced by wind. The U.S. wind market is roughly $20 billion, according to Simmons' estimates.
3. Climate
The biggest issue facing the coal industry is permits being held up by the Environmental Protection Agency that are needed to continue producing coal. Environmentalists contend coal mining is destroying landscapes where these basins are located.
"The problem here is that we are going to experience energy usage growth of 50% over the next 25 years, and we can't do it without coal, which is one of the cheapest forms of energy," Dudas said.
Coal stockpiles rose last year as demand fell. Businesses were forced to close and shutter production, while consumers used less heat to save on their energy bills, Dudas says.
"Coal producers will have to manage their output and in some cases shut mining operations down until the stockpiles begin to decline, which has already begun," he said.
Last week, U.S. industry executives from the wind, solar, hydropower, geothermal and biomass sectors pushed for a federal renewable energy standard, which would set a percentage of how much energy must come from renewable sources in the U.S.
The group wants an extension of tax incentives and said stimulus funds powered most renewable expansion last year. President Barack Obama has urged Congress to set a national standard that would require 25% renewable power by 2025.
A federal standard, which they say will foster economic growth and create jobs, could spur these industries at a time when China is moving swiftly into alternative energy production.
4. Technology
Most technological advances in this industry group have occurred in renewables.
For example, ethanol producers, such as BioFuel Energy (NMS:BIOF) and Pacific Ethanol (NMS:PEIX), use corn oil extraction technologies to produce the biofuel.
Companies such as Hy-Drive Technologies provide natural gas or hydrogen-generating systems for diesel and commercial fleets.
And FuelCell Energy (NMS:FCEL) makes stationary fuel cells, which electrochemically produce electricity directly from hydrocarbon fuels for commercial, industrial, utility and government customers.
Solar power companies have to be tech-savvy to generate electricity from sunlight. This can be direct as with photovoltaics, or indirect as with concentrating solar power, where the sun's energy is focused to boil water, then used to generate power.
5. Outlook
Over the next decade, coal plant retirements will take roughly 50 to 60 gigawatts of coal generation offline.
The U.S. will need to replace that lost energy, and renewables are the answer, Gamble says.
"It will take a mix to fill the void, and there will be a shift, but renewables won't fill that need overnight," he said. "In order to make this happen, there will have to be additional infrastructure built, which becomes an expensive proposition no matter how you slice it."
Nuclear, natural gas and renewable energy can each fill part of that role, but additional coal assets must be built in the meantime.
Upside: The world has unquenchable thirst for energy as emerging economies continue their rapid growth and populations in developed nations continue to swell. That demand should fuel business for traditional sources like coal as well as renewables.
Risks: Another recession could further sap demand for coal, which could increase stockpiles and restrain mining operations. Also, tougher regulation in the U.S. would make starting new projects difficult.
A Renewed Sense Of Energy
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02.11.10
Posted in .com, All, money, online, top tagged economics, finance, marketing, newsreports, writing at 5:48 am by carydalton
BRUSSELS — The crisis in Greece brought Europe’s leaders together on one issue Wednesday: The need for emergency action to keep the problem from infecting Europe’s other weak economies. But an accord on who will take the lead — and how — appeared uncertain.
European officials face greater urgency to devise a bailout for Greece after fears its government might default caused a recent slump in financial markets worldwide.
A phalanx of European leaders put on a unified show of support ahead of a Thursday summit meeting in Brussels, where the heads of all European Union governments and the finance ministers of the 16 countries that use the euro are scheduled to appear. Together with the president of the European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Trichet, the officials agreed Wednesday that they could no longer allow uncertainty about the future of Greece — and the euro zone — to disturb global investors.
“The point of no return has been passed,” said one diplomat involved in negotiations over a possible European bailout of Greece. “We have to do something or announce something.”
But some officials said the meeting might achieve little more than a political statement, leaving details to be worked out later by finance ministers.
German officials also insisted that no formal decision had been made.
Stocks on Wall Street fell Wednesday, partly on worries that European politicians may not find a quick resolution to the crisis.
A crucial point in the discussions is whether the government in Athens should be offered loan guarantees or given additional loans to help meet a looming debt payment, or whether there should be a pledge to buy Greek government bonds should the need arise. Investors like the concept of having one or several creditworthy nations, like Germany, guaranteeing the debts of a poorer nation, although such a move would be largely without precedent.
Germany and France are expected to have to take the lead on any emergency solution, especially after European officials rejected allowing Greece to go the International Monetary Fund — which often provides financial aid to emerging markets — for help. Going to the fund is considered a highly undesirable option for any of the 16 countries that use the euro currency. President Nicolas Sarkozy of France and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany intend to hold a joint news conference after the summit meeting.
It is “no longer considered an option not to act,” said a French official involved in the talks.
Officials are worried about the “moral hazard” of any Europe-backed solution for Greece: If one country is bailed out by the others, investors will expect a similar response should other weak economies that use the euro, including Portugal and Spain, fall into serious trouble.
And then there are questions about how to apply any commitments so that the weaker governments would be pressured to deliver painful economic overhauls freecreditreport.
The talks, which included a discussion of what steps Greece might be required or even forced to take to deal with its own financial problems, came as Greek citizens demonstrated in protest against austerity measures so far announced by the government, which many market participants think are far from adequate.
“At this junction they will have to support Greece,” Simon Tilford, chief economist at the Center for European Reform, said of Europe’s politicians. “If you have encouraged the markets to believe that support is forthcoming and then it is not, we will see a backlash” in financial markets.
Though Mr. Tilford said the markets would ideally like to see some form of guarantee extended to Greek loans, he added that this would probably be too much for the government in Berlin. The most likely outcome was a loan facility extended on condition that changes were undertaken by the government in Athens. It would also need to apply to other countries facing similar ills.
Jean Pisani-Ferry, director of the Bruegel research institute in Brussels said that whatever officials decide Thursday, it was important to lay out markers — including what assistance they would take, what would activate it and who would provide it — so that markets could understand how aid would be given.
The summit meeting Thursday was called by Herman Van Rompuy, president of the European Council, to try to draw up a longer-term economic strategy for the European Union to modernize its economy by 2020, an agenda that has been overshadowed by the euro zone debt crisis.
Stocks rose across most of Europe on Wednesday, with the euro-zone benchmark Dow Jones Euro Stoxx 50 index gaining 1.2 percent. The euro slipped as conflicting comments from European leaders showed the bloc was still moving hesitantly toward concrete measures. The 16-nation currency traded at $1.3733 late Wednesday in Europe.
Greek government debt rallied for a second consecutive day, with the yield on the government’s benchmark 10-year bond — which spiked as high as 7.2 percent on Jan. 28 — dropping at one point below 6 percent for the first time in a month. Italian, Irish, Spanish and Portuguese bonds also gained. The cost of insuring government debts against default through credit default swaps also fell.
Charles Diebel, head of European rate strategy at Nomura International, said a default was not imminent in Greece. But without European Union support Greek bond yields will rise so high that Athens would find it very difficult to sell debt when it needs to refinance in a few months.
“It’s a question of confidence, not fundamentals,” Mr. Diebel said.
Nicholas Kulish contributed reporting from Berlin.
Europe Agrees to Aid Greece, but Is Unsure of How to Help
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02.09.10
Posted in All, Free blog Tips, economic, money, top tagged All, blogs, financial, people, world at 5:35 pm by carydalton
LINCOLNSHIRE, Ill. – Zebra Technologies Corp. made a profit in the fourth quarter, free of the one-time expenses that left it with a loss a year ago.
The company, which makes bar code and plastic card printers, also offered a first-quarter forecast above Wall Street expectations.
Its shares rose 7 cents to $27.41 in midday trading.
Zebra earned $17.6 million, or 30 cents per share, in the three months ended Dec. 31. It lost $117.4 million, or $1.88 per share, a year ago, when the company booked hefty charges related to restructuring and the falling value of its assets.
Zebra said the latest results included 3 cents per share in restructuring costs.
Revenue slipped 4 percent to $222.5 million from $232.6 million a year ago best payday advance.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, who typically exclude one-time costs, expected lower earnings of 25 cents per share and lower revenue of $206.6 million.
Full-year earnings came to $47.1 million, or 79 cents per share, compared with a loss of $38.4 million, or 60 cents per share, in 2008. Revenue fell to $803.6 million from $976.7 million.
Zebra said it expects a first-quarter profit of 25 cents to 32 cents per share, including 2 cents worth of restructuring charges. It expects sales of between $217 million and $230 million.
Analysts expected 26 cents per share and $203.7 million.
Zebra posts 4Q profit of $17.6 million
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02.04.10
Posted in .com, All, Free blog Tips, hot news, shortly tagged economics, events, markets, political, politics at 6:12 am by carydalton
GENEVA – In an embarrassment to Switzerland’s government, the country’s top court said Wednesday that at least $4.6 million in Swiss bank accounts previously awarded to charities must be returned to the family of Haiti’s ex-dictator Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier.
The decision was reached on Jan. 12, just hours before the devastating earthquake that struck Haiti, killing at least 150,000 people. The ruling is urelated to the disaster, but the amount of money contested could feed more than a million Haitians for two weeks.
The court’s decision was only published Wednesday, prompting the Swiss government to issue an emergency decree to keep the money frozen in a Swiss bank until a new law can be passed allowing it to be donated to aid groups working in Haiti.
“This is a public relations disaster for Switzerland,” said Mark Pieth, a Swiss professor with a long resume in international corruption cases such as the U.N. oil-for-food scandal.
In the decision, the Federal Supreme Court reversed a lower court’s ruling that the money should have gone to aid groups working in the impoverished nation because the statute of limitations on any crimes committed by the Duvalier clan would have expired in 2001.
Delays are common in Switzerland between court verdicts and their public announcements, but the release of the decision could not have come at a worse time. Beyond depriving Haiti’s relief efforts of additional money, the ruling also strikes a blow at Switzerland’s long-standing efforts to shed its image as an investment haven for the world’s dictators.
“We assume that this money doesn’t belong to the Duvalier family,” said Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, the Swiss justice minister. “We’ve blocked the money again today to prevent that it goes somewhere that it shouldn’t for political reasons. We really hope that this money finally goes back to the country.”
Many Haitians accuse Duvalier and his entourage of robbing millions from public funds before he was ousted in 1986. Duvalier is believed to be living in exile in France and has always denied wrongdoing.
The decision cannot be appealed, but the Swiss Foreign Ministry said it would try to keep the money from being withdrawn while it works on a better national law for dealing with assets of “criminal origin.” It said the amount of money actually totaled $5.7 million, though the reason for the discrepancy was unclear.
The government “wants to avoid the Swiss financial center serving as a haven for illegally acquired assets,” it said in a statement, adding that a new law working retroactively could be ready this month. Widmer-Schlumpf was less optimistic, but said the law could come into effect as early as 2011.
Switzerland has traditionally been a favorite location for potentate money because of its banking secrecy rules. But reforms over the last two decades have made it harder to hide money in Switzerland, and the country has become a world leader in returning cash.
Virtually all of about $730 million in Swiss accounts linked to the late Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha has been sent back to the African country, while the Philippines recouped hundreds of millions stashed in Swiss banks by late dictator Ferdinand Marcos low cost payday loans.
Problems have nonetheless persisted, particularly linked to the statute of limitations. Last year, the heirs of late Congo dictator Mobutu Sese Seko recovered about $7.4 million, even though Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey had promised in 2007 to return the cash to the Congolese government.
Swiss officials gave few details about the new law they hoped to create to make it easier for assets belonging to deposed dictators to be repatriated to national governments. The current rules only allow Switzerland to return cash when asked for by a national government that is pursuing its own criminal investigation — a handicap in countries where amnesty laws, corruption or weak legal systems hinder prosecution of past leaders.
Haiti made its first request for the money in 1986, shortly after Duvalier’s ouster.
But it has been frozen ever since because Switzerland would not give it back while the Haitian government wasn’t pursuing Duvalier under its own justice system. As a way out, the Swiss government had proposed giving the money to aid groups working in Haiti.
“At a time when everyone tries to help Haiti, issuing a decision that the money belongs to the dictator’s family because of the statute of limitations is very clumsy,” Pieth said. “You have a head of state with a secret army that tortures people, and at the same time he empties the state treasury. The people cannot defend themselves. It’s robbing from the people, and this aspect has to be addressed by the court.”
The U.N. says about $2 billion has already been donated to various relief efforts in Haiti. But the country’s long-term problems related to infrastructure, endemic poverty and criminality means more will be needed to stabilize the country.
The $4.6 million may represent only a drop in the bucket, but the U.N. food agency could use it to feed 1.25 million Haitians for two weeks, said spokeswoman Emilia Casella.
The Supreme Court said it was unhappy about the ruling but that its hands were legally tied, forcing it to reverse an August decision that said the Duvalier family had essentially acted as a “criminal organization” by diverting public funds through a Liechtenstein foundation to accounts at UBS AG, Switzerland’s largest bank.
UBS declined to comment, but said the bank and its employees have donated $3 million to Haiti.
The Swiss government’s decision to keep the money blocked is based on an article in the Swiss Constitution giving it the power to issue emergency decrees to protect national interests. Officials wouldn’t explain the move further.
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Associated Press writers Bradley S. Klapper and Frank Jordans contributed to this report.
Haiti, Swiss gov’t losers in Duvalier cash ruling
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02.01.10
Posted in All, Free blog Tips, hot news, money, news tagged financial, opinion, politics, work, world at 10:06 am by carydalton
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The economic recovery is suddenly looking more robust. If it is going to stay that way, the labor market will need to catch up soon.
In the United States, Canada and China, 2009 ended with a surprisingly strong burst of growth. Some of that was driven by fleeting factors, particularly in the United States where shifts in business inventories accounted for more than half of the fourth quarter's 5.7 percent annual rate of growth.
The next big test of the revival's staying power comes on Friday when the U.S. employment report for January is released. Economists polled by Reuters are looking for a slim gain, probably not enough to put a dent in the 10 percent unemployment rate.
"Employment growth may never have been more important for a recovery than in the current one," said Sal Guatieri, senior economist with BMO Capital Markets in Toronto. "With bank credit still tight and households rebuilding savings, income growth is badly needed to drive spending higher."
A high jobless rate breeds a host of other ills, including sluggish consumer spending, rising credit defaults and foreclosures, all of which puts a drag on global growth. Consumer spending accounts for roughly 70 percent of U.S. economic activity.
Elevated unemployment is also a big factor in why central banks in the world's major advanced economies are not in a hurry to raise interest rates. Wages are typically the biggest driver of inflation, and with so many people out of work labor costs are unlikely to spike.
The U.S. Federal Reserve said last week that it would probably keep short-term borrowing costs unusually low for some time. The European Central Bank and Bank of England hold their policy-setting meetings on Thursday, and both are expected to keep rates at record lows.
WHEN WILL JOBS RETURN?
With interest rates already about as low as they can go, there is not much more that monetary policy can do to encourage hiring. Using fiscal policy to help create jobs opens up a whole new set of problems.
Government budgets were battered by costly crisis-fighting efforts, and concerns have been growing over the state of public finances across the developed world.
Those worries will be on display when the White House unveils its budget proposals on Monday fast payday loans. President Barack Obama has already said he plans to freeze spending for three years starting in 2011, although he excluded two of the biggest expenses — defense and health-care programs.
At the same time, Obama has pledged an assortment of tax breaks and spending programs to try to bring down the jobless rate, which has become a political imperative with many lawmakers facing elections in November.
There is a debate brewing among economists about how quickly the U.S. job market will recover. Some argue that because companies slashed payrolls so aggressively in the darkest days of the recession, they will need to rapidly rehire now that demand is beginning to revive.
"Since employment and hours worked were cut sharply below levels warranted by the decline in output, we expect a stronger-than-consensus jobs recovery," Ethan Harris, head of North American economics for BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research, wrote in a note to clients.
Others say that while this may be true for larger manufacturers, there is evidence that small businesses — typically the biggest source of U.S. job creation — remain reluctant to hire.
A survey in January by the National Federation of Independent Business of small businesses showed that 15 percent expected to cut jobs in the next three months, and just 8 percent planned to create new jobs.
Confidence in the sustainability of the economic recovery is low, and credit remains tight. Some who want to expand and hire can't get loans, and many who can are wary of taking on more debt.
Kate Drew-Wilkinson, who designs and makes jewelry that she sells at her store in Bisbee, Arizona, said she had been thinking about hiring as many as four more workers, and was encouraged by Obama's pledge to focus on job creation. Yet the thought of taking on more debt to expand gave her pause.
"One hates to borrow, but I suppose if there was some kind of financial incentive that made sense to me… I would do it," she said.
(With additional reporting by Tim Gaynor in Phoenix, Arizona; editing by Leslie Adler)
Help wanted to sustain the recovery
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01.31.10
Posted in All, economic, money, online, top tagged All, blogs, markets, newsreports, opinion at 7:48 am by carydalton
LONDON – As captain of England’s national team, John Terry is used to appearing in the sports pages. But on Saturday, his picture was splashed across the front pages of Britain’s newspapers, and not because of his skill on the field.
A High Court judge lifted a court order Friday that had prevented the media from reporting allegations about Terry’s private life — a so-called “super injunction” which barred publication that any order even existed.
The court order related to a story about the 29-year-old Terry, who is married with two children, and his ties with another woman whom the judge did not name.
After the injunction was lifted, it wasn’t just the country’s famously racy tabloids that published page after page about the football (soccer) star — some of Britain’s more conservative broadsheet newspapers followed the story as well for its long-term impact on the country’s strict media laws.
Ambi Sitham, a media lawyer, called High Court judge Michael Tugendhat’s decision “hugely significant,” and said while those with legitimate privacy concerns would continue to be protected, people trying to escape scrutiny for other reasons won’t find relief in the courts.
“It’s a big red flag for high-profile people, who are increasingly using privacy law to keep sordid details out of the press,” she said.
In December, a similar injunction barred journalists in Britain from publishing material about Tiger Woods, even blocking the media from revealing the details of the order itself. Woods has since confessed to marital infidelities, lost millions as sponsorship deals evaporated, taken an unspecified amount of time off from professional golf and disappeared from public view.
Terry, whose past bad boy antics have been frequently chronicled by the press, never had the saintly reputation of Woods. Still, he is one of the sport’s highest-paid stars playing the world’s most popular game for one of the most renowned clubs — Chelsea — in the English Premier League, the world’s wealthiest.
Britain doesn’t have a formal privacy law, but is a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights. That guarantees the right to respect for privacy and family life, and this clause has been used repeatedly by celebrities to fight media exposes.
The position of England captain is highly prestigious in Britain — David Beckham was the team’s previous leader. Terry had been working on his image after a series of damaging incidents and last year was named “Dad of the Year” by a condiments company.
The injunction was granted Jan. 22 after Terry learned that a newspaper was about to publish a story about his private life.
Tugendhat, however, said Terry appeared more concerned about the effect that publication of the allegations might have on his public image rather than his private life, saying the “claim is essentially a business matter.”
Terry — who is identified as LNS in the judgment — has several sponsorship deals on top of his reported weekly salary of 170,000 pounds ($275,000; euro197,000) with Chelsea.
“I have reached the view that it is likely that the nub of LNS’s complaint in this case is the protection of reputation, and not of any other aspect of LNS’s private life,” the judgment says payday loan in advance. “The real basis for the concern of LNS is likely to be the impact of any adverse publicity upon the business of earning sponsorship and similar income.”
The judge did say the woman in question was “a famous person” but not from the sporting world — and not as famous as Terry. British papers on Saturday reported that the woman was a model who already had a son with one of Terry’s former teammates, a player who may also be chosen for England’s World Cup team.
His team, Chelsea, has called the situation “a personal matter” and said they would give Terry and his family “all the support they need in dealing with it.”
Much speculation Saturday focused on how the allegations could affect Terry’s position on the England team and its run at the World Cup this summer in South Africa. Coach Fabio Capello has instilled a strict disciplinary code within the squad, and could pull the captaincy from Terry if he thought his off-field behavior might affect the team.
“The daily headlines will continue to question his fitness to lead. In Fleet Street parlance, this story has legs and will run and run,” sports columnist Henry Winter wrote in the Daily Telegraph. “If it seems that Terry’s conduct and continued ownership of the captain’s armband affects morale going into a World Cup, then Capello has no choice. Terry should go.”
Terry has played for Chelsea his entire career. The Blues fended off an attempt by Manchester City to sign him last year by giving him a pay rise that reportedly made him the highest-paid player in the Premier League.
Appointed Chelsea captain in 2004, he has won two Premier League titles, three FA Cups and two League Cups in the most successful period in the club’s history.
He was first choice in central defense for England at the 2004 European Championship and 2006 World Cup, after which he was named national team captain when Beckham relinquished the role.
But allegations of off-field transgressions have followed him throughout his career. He was fined by Chelsea after he and three teammates drunkenly abused American guests at a hotel the day after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Terry has also been ejected from nightclubs and newspapers have accused him of infidelities several times.
But Terry has retained the England captaincy, even after the country’s failure to reach the 2008 European Championship, and appeared in advertisements for Samsung and sportswear manufacturer Umbro.
Despite speculation that he might hide out after all the bad publicity, Terry started in his team’s game Saturday. He was booed by fans but scored the winning goal in Chelsea’s 2-1 victory over Burnley, keeping his team on top of the Premier League.
“He is a fantastic player,” Chelsea coach Carlo Ancelotti said after the game. “That is his private life. He is about work. We don’t have to say nothing because he is very professional.”
___
Associated Press sports writer Stuart Condie contributed to this report from London.
UK court lifts media ban on soccer star’s life
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01.30.10
Posted in All, hot news, news, shortly, top tagged All, money, news, people, world at 12:05 am by carydalton
NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Chevron Corp (CVX.N), the second-largest U.S. oil company, posted a 37 percent drop in quarterly profit, missing analyst forecasts, as steep refinery losses offset gains from higher oil prices and production.
Global refining margins have suffered in recent months as rising crude oil prices have driven up costs even as the weak economy has shrunk demand for gasoline and diesel fuel.
That refinery weakness overshadowed a steep 9 percent rise in oil and gas output in the quarter from new and expanded projects, which lifted proved reserves by 1.1 billion barrels.
"It's like trying to run at 40 miles per hour in a boat while dragging an anchor," said James Halloran, energy advisor at Financial America Securities in Cleveland.
The company will be spending heavily off the coast of Western Australia this year, with $3.5 billion of its $21.6 billion capital spending budget going toward construction of its massive natural gas operations there.
Chevron signed off on the $37 billion Gorgon liquefied natural gas project in September, after hiring a contractor to design the Wheatstone project nearby only weeks earlier.
Chevron's fourth-quarter net profit fell to $3.07 billion, or $1.53 per share, from $4.9 billion, or $2.44 per share, in the same quarter a year before.
That fell far short of analysts' average forecast of $1.70 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S, largely because of the steeper-than-expected $613 million loss from refining, marketing and transportation.
Chief Executive John Watson, on his first call with analysts since getting the job, said it was "quite premature" to talk of closing refineries, but he would seek cost cuts and aim for a 10 percent-plus downstream return through the cycle.
Chevron will merge its chemicals arm with the rest of the downstream business, and retain a spending bias that will shift its focus over time to exploration and production, he added quick pay day loan.
"We have favored upstream investment for more than the last decade. That has been a pattern I think you will see going forward," Watson said on the conference call.
After outperforming on oil and gas output in 2009, Chevron is looking for modest production growth of about 1 percent this year, to 2.73 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe) per day.
Production at Chevron was 2.78 million boe per day in the fourth quarter, including 135,000 bpd associated with the ramp-up at Agbami in Nigeria, which commenced operations in the third quarter of 2008, and expansion at Tengiz in Kazakhstan.
Overall revenue rose nearly 12 percent to $48 billion.
Chevron said earlier in January that fourth-quarter profit would be hit by the slump in its refining business, which saw margins fall to the lowest levels of the year.
The company's business lost in the quarter versus a year-ago profit of $2.1 billion.
Earlier this week, ConocoPhillips (COP.N) posted better-than-expected earnings as the firmer oil prices offset its weak refinery performance.
Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) reports results on Monday.
At Thursday's close, Chevron shares had shed 4.5 percent since the start of 2010, against a 3.6 percent decline in the Chicago Board Options Exchange index of oil companies (.OIX).
The stock fell 0.6 percent to $72.82 on Friday, while the Standard & Poor's Energy index (.GSPE) was flat.
(Reporting by Matt Daily in New York and Braden Reddall in San Francisco, editing by Dave Zimmerman and Gunna Dickson)
Chevron Q4 profit tumbles, misses Wall St view
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