03.06.10
Posted in .com, hot news, money, top, world of money tagged All, blogs, events, money, opinion at 3:12 pm by carydalton
LONDON (MarketWatch) — Anglo-Swiss mining firm Xstrata gained ground on Friday after a deal to sell its Prodeco assets in Columbia to shareholder Glencore, a move that helped the metals sector to advance in the British stock market.
Xstrata shares climbed 2.5% after it said Glencore International will exercise its option to acquire its Prodeco coal operations in Columbia.
Under the option agreement, Glencore, which holds more than 34% of Xstrata, will pay Xstrata at least $2.25 billion in cash upon completion of the sale.
“Glencore’s decision to exercise its option provides Xstrata’s shareholders with a robust cash return on the initial purchase price and provides additional financial flexibility as Xstrata’s capital expenditure program ramps up to deliver 50% volume growth by 2014,” said Xstrata CEO Mick Davis.
Analysts at MF Global noted: “Prodeco was Glencore’s asset contribution during the [Xstrata] rights issue last year, when the metals trader did not have the cash to participate.”
They believe that the deal will take Xstrata’s net debt/EBITDA ratio back below 1 times which “should allow the group to spend more on capital expenditure or even mergers and acquisitions.”
They added: “investors in that context could focus on Lonmin once more, of which Xstrata already owns 24.65%.” Platinum miner Lonmin rose 1.8%.
Overall, the FTSE 100 index rose 0.4% to 5,550.99 on Friday and other European shares also advanced. U.S. stock futures were pointing to mild gains ahead of key jobs data due out later. See Europe Markets. Read more on jobs.
“News flow from Japan is overshadowing the final trading session of the week, though we expect that will change in a few hours when the U.S. employment report for February is published,” said Kenneth Broux, economist at Lloyds Corporate Markets.
On Friday, there was speculation that Japan will ease monetary policy through April in order to push down short-term rates. The BOJ’s policy board is expected to discuss such steps at a two-day meeting starting March 16, Japanese business daily Nikkei reported cash advance. Read more on BOJ.
Banks were higher in London trading, with Standard Chartered shares up 2.4% and HSBC Holdings up 1%.
Still, shares of advertising giant WPP / declined 0.7%. Its fiscal-year net profit was broadly flat at 437.7 million pounds, compared to 439.1 million pounds a year ago. Sales rose 16.1 to 8.68 billion pounds.
WPP said that 2010 should be a more stable year although “there is no marked growth as yet.”
Shares of British American Tobacco declined 0.4% to 2,309 pence.
It was downgraded to neutral from outperform at Credit Suisse with the broker saying it sees limited upside to its new target price of 2,350p following a recent strong performance for the firm’s shares. It raised 2010 and 2011 earnings per share forecasts for the firm by 4%, mainly to reflect recent sterling weakness.
“At current levels, we would favor Imperial Tobacco and Philip Morris International , which should also deliver robust earnings growth in 2010 as pricing - the industry’s main P&L lever - remains good,” the broker said.
Outside the top index, United Business Media shares jumped 10%.
The media firm posted 2009 profit after tax of 81.8 million pounds, from 82.7 million pounds last year and also resolved its “decade-long dialogue” with the U.K. tax authorities following the sale of its regional newspapers business in 1998.
“We have agreed to make a payment of 46.5 million pounds in settlement of this and a number of other tax issues. This, together with the resolution of a number of other tax matters, has resulted in a release of 135.2 million pounds of our previous tax creditor,” the firm said.
Michael Page International shares fell 1.7%.
The recruitment firm’s 2009 net profit fell to 12.4 million pounds, from 97.3 million pounds recorded at the same point last year. Revenue declined to 716.7 million pounds, from 972.8 million pounds last year.
London Markets: British shares up as miners, banks rise
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03.01.10
Posted in Free blog Tips, economic, money, news, shortly tagged blogs, marketing, markets, people, politics at 4:54 am by carydalton
Merck of Germany said on Sunday that it had agreed to buy Millipore, an American provider of purifiers and filters for biotechnology laboratories, for about $7.2 billion, including debt.
With the Millipore acquisition, Merck will become the latest health care company to strike a deal during a period of industrywide consolidation. The takeover will give the German drug maker a big presence in products for the biotechnology industry.
Under the terms of the deal, Merck will pay $107 a share in cash, a 13 percent premium to Millipore’s closing price of $94.41 on Friday.
“This transaction is very attractive to shareholders, customers and employees of both companies,” Karl-Ludwig Kley, Merck’s chairman, said in a statement. “This is a combination with an excellent strategic fit.”
Millipore shares have risen more than 34 percent since last week, when news reports said that it had received a $6 billion bid from another company, Thermo Fisher Scientific bad credit pay day loans. Millipore later confirmed that was considering selling itself.
Millipore, based in Billerica, Mass., had $1.7 billion in sales last year. It has about 6,000 employees in more than 30 countries.
The deal is expected to close in the second half of the year.
Merck plans to pay for the deal with a mix of cash on hand and loans from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, BNP Paribas and Commerzbank, though it expects to issue bonds to replace some of the bank financing.
Merck was advised by Guggenheim Securities, Perella Weinberg Partners and the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. Millipore was advised by Goldman Sachs and the law firms Cravath, Swaine & Moore and Ropes & Gray.
Merck to Pay $7.2 Billion for Millipore
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02.27.10
Posted in hot news, money, news, online, top tagged blogs, campaign, politics, reviews, work at 6:36 pm by carydalton
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Consumer sentiment was weaker in February, as Americans grew more impatient with the government's gridlock over efforts to stimulate jobs, a survey released on Friday showed.
While not fearful of another spike in layoffs, consumers have turned more gloomy about their job and income prospects, according to the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan's Surveys of Consumers.
"Consumers have been getting more impatient with the slow progress of the stimulus program, and confidence in the Obama administration's economic policies has begun to wane," Richard Curtin, director of the surveys, said in a statement.
The survey's overall index of consumer sentiment was at 73.6 in February, down from 74.4 in January and below the 74.0 forecast by analysts polled by Reuters. The preliminary February reading was 73.7.
The gauge of current economic conditions was at 81 personal humidifier.8 for the month, up from January's reading of 81.1. This compares with 84.1 in the preliminary figures and 82.0 predicted by analysts.
The survey's barometer of consumer expectations weakened to 68.4 in February from 70.1 in January. It fell short of the 69.9 forecast by analyst but it did improve from the preliminary figure of 66.9.
The index of consumers' 12-month economic outlook fell to 80 from 84 in January, but it was up from 79 in early February.
The survey's 1-year inflation expectations eased to 2.7 percent in February from 2.8 in January, while the five-to-10-year inflation measure slipped to 2.7 from 2.9 a month ago.
(Reporting by Richard Leong and Caroline Valetkevitch, Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
Consumer sentiment weakens in February
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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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02.09.10
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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02.02.10
Posted in .com, hot news, money, online, world of money tagged blogs, economy, events, life, personal at 9:47 pm by carydalton
NEW YORK – Shares of several staffing agencies ticked higher Tuesday after Manpower Inc. posted fourth-quarter results that beat analysts’ expectations, and its CEO said he is confident about the sustainability of an economic recovery.
Manpower said quarterly earnings plunged 62 percent as employers still feared taking on more workers and unemployment continued to hover around 10 percent. Still, the results topped estimates and CEO Jeffrey Joerres said revenue should start to grow in the first quarter for the first time since late 2008.
“(The) CEO’s commentary regarding the recovery was much stronger and more positive than his comments out of Davos last week,” Deutsche Bank analysts wrote in a note to investors Tuesday, referring to the annual World Economic Forum in Switzerland.
The Milwaukee-based company said it’s continuing to see improving trends across its businesses and is more confident that the global economic recovery is sustainable. It also announced it will acquire fellow staffing firm Comsys IT Partners Inc installment payday loans., which provides temporary employees for information technology jobs.
Shares of Manpower Inc. rose $2.08, or 3.9 percent, to $55.24 in afternoon trading.
Other staffing companies also advanced. Shares of Robert Half International Inc. gained 32 cents to $27.19. The owner of Accountemps and OfficeTeam last week reported a 65 percent drop in its fourth-quarter earnings as high unemployment persisted but also still beat Wall Street expectations. The company placed more temporary and more permanent workers in new jobs than it had in the third quarter, providing some evidence of a recovery.
Shares of blue-collar staffer True Blue Inc. added 28 cents, or 2 percent, to $14.47 and jobs Web site operator Monster Worldwide Inc. climbed 35 cents, or 2.3 percent, to $15.94. Kelly Services Inc. rose 24 cents to $13.80.
Shares of staffing cos. rise on Manpower results
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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
Hot News: Toyota to Issue a Fix for Recalled Cars
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01.25.10
Posted in All, Free blog Tips, money, online, top tagged All, blogs, finance, marketing, money at 5:12 pm by carydalton
WASHINGTON – The top Senate Democrat wants to make it more difficult to run up the deficit with new tax cuts or expansions of federal benefit programs.
Majority Leader Harry Reid’s plan would make it difficult to again extend emergency unemployment benefits or health insurance subsides for laid off workers. It would also make it harder to render new assistance for state Medicaid payments.
The Nevada Democrat is pressing the plan to get legislation passed permitting the government to continue to borrow money to finance its operations no fax cash loans. Under the pay-as-you-go concept, program cuts or revenue increases would be needed to cover the cost of any new policies or programs. If not, across-the-board spending cuts would kick in.
Top Senate Democrat lays out deficit curbs
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01.19.10
Posted in .com, hot news, shortly, top, world of money tagged blogs, economics, economy, marketing, markets at 4:06 am by carydalton
Kraft Foods has reached a tentative deal for a friendly takeover of Cadbury of Britain, agreeing in principle to pay about $19 billion in cash and stock for the confectioner, people briefed on the matter said on Monday.
Barring any last-minute complications — these people cautioned that the talks could still fall apart — the deal would create a global food giant that would unite Kraft and its Oreo cookies and Ritz crackers with Cadbury and its Trident gum and Dairy Milk chocolates. Together, the two companies would have more than $50 billion in revenue and a big presence in markets globally.
Over the last decade, food companies have sought to gain scale by combining with each other, most recently with Mars buying the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company in 2008 for $23 billion.
The tentative deal for Cadbury would end a four-month battle for control of the British candy maker, one in which Cadbury executives accused Kraft of showing “contempt” with an undervalued offer.
Under the terms of the proposal, Kraft will pay 840 pence ($13.70) for each Cadbury share, while Cadbury will pay out a special dividend of 10 pence a share. The offer is about a 5 percent premium over Cadbury’s closing share price of 807.5 pence on Monday. The majority of the increase was in the cash component, which was raised to £5 a Cadbury share, from £3, a person briefed on the matter said.
The agreement is expected to be announced as soon as Tuesday, this person said, which is the last day Kraft can raise its offer under British takeover rules.
Spokesmen for Cadbury and Kraft declined to comment on Monday.
The deal will draw to a close an often acrimonious takeover battle between the two food companies, one that began with Kraft making public an unsolicited $16.7 billion bid for Cadbury in early September. The Cadbury management quickly derided the offer as too low and dismissed the prospect of being absorbed into what it called a slow-growing food conglomerate.
Most of Cadbury’s major shareholders resisted Kraft’s original offer, with just 1.5 percent having accepted by an earlier January deadline. Many are likely to be swayed by a recommendation from Cadbury’s board now that Kraft has addressed a common complaint by raising the cash portion of its bid.
A takeover of the 186-year-old Cadbury, especially by an American giant like Kraft, will most likely send shudders throughout Britain. Politicians and unions have pointed to both a loss of jobs — the Unite labor union has estimated that as many as 30,000 jobs could be lost — and of national pride business card templates.
Cadbury has argued repeatedly that it would prefer to remain independent, pointing to faster-than-expected success in its turnaround program. But its executives have acknowledged that Kraft’s bid put the company in play and they would consider any offer made at the right price.
From the beginning, speculation mounted among investors that another bidder could step in, forcing Kraft to raise its original offer. Representatives for Cadbury have held talks with Hershey, the American company that Cadbury had viewed as a preferable merger partner, according to people briefed on the matter.
For Hershey, buying Cadbury would prevent it from being relegated to a mostly domestic company. Hershey moved closer to making a bid in recent days, lining up more than $10 billion in financing, these people said.
Hershey had been waiting for Kraft to unveil its final offer on Tuesday before it made its final decision on a bid, but analysts have said that Hershey would most likely be unable to top the much larger Kraft in a bidding war. Other potential suitors, including Nestlé of Switzerland and Ferrero of Italy, dropped out.
Despite Kraft’s strong desire to gain control of Cadbury, its chief executive, Irene Rosenfeld, vowed to keep the company disciplined in its bidding and to maintain its investment-grade credit rating. Still, Kraft began raising its original offer earlier this month, increasing the cash portion of its bid after selling its North American frozen pizza business to Nestlé for $3.7 billion. Ms. Rosenfeld met with Cadbury shareholders in London last week to solicit their opinions.
Others have sounded notes of caution. Warren E. Buffett, whose Berkshire Hathaway is Kraft’s largest shareholder, delivered an unusually public admonishment, warning Kraft to avoid overdiluting its shareholders by issuing too many new shares.
William A. Ackman, who runs the hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management and has been amassing a big position in Kraft, echoed concerns about shareholder dilution, though he said he supported the company’s takeover effort.
Andrew Ross Sorkin contributed reporting.
Kraft Said to Reach Deal for Cadbury
Hot News: Asia Markets: Indian state-run banks may outpace private peers
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01.15.10
Posted in All, Free blog Tips, hot news, shortly, top tagged blogs, campaign, events, politics, world at 5:06 am by carydalton
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Sales at U.S. retailers unexpectedly fell in December as consumer spent less on vehicles and an array of other goods during the holiday shopping month, data showed on Thursday, raising concerns about the durability of the economy's recovery.
The Commerce Department said total retail sales fell 0.3 percent last month, the first decline in three months, after rising by an upwardly revised 1.8 percent in November. Sales in November were previously reported to have increased 1.3 percent.
Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast retail sales gaining 0.5 percent last month.
Compared to December 2008, sales rose 5.4 percent, but fell 6.2 percent for the whole of 2009.
Motor vehicle purchases fell 0.8 percent, while sales at electronics and appliance stores dropped 2.6 percent.
The data, coming in the wake of a report last week showing a surprise drop in non-farm payrolls in December, could add to worries that the economic expansion that started in the third quarter of 2008 could falter once government stimulus ends bad credit personal loan lenders.
Stubbornly high unemployment remains the weakest link in the recovery from the worst economic downturn since the 1930s. Job worries are expected to constrain consumer spending, which normally accounts for more than two-thirds of economic activity.
Excluding motor vehicles and parts, retail sales fell 0.2 percent in December, the biggest decline since July, after rising 1.9 percent the prior month. Economists had expected a 0.3 percent increase.
Core retail sales, which excludes autos, gasoline and building materials, fell 0.3 percent after rising 0.9 percent in November.
(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Neil Stempleman)
Retail sales unexpectedly fall in December
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01.01.10
Posted in business, hot news, money, news, shortly tagged All, blogs, political, reviews, world at 3:06 am by carydalton
NEW YORK, Dec. 31 (Xinhua) — The dollar was mixed against major currencies on Thursday in the last trading day of 2009 with thin volume.
U.S. initial claims for jobless benefits unexpectedly declined to 432,000 in the week ending December 26, the lowest level since July 2008, the Labor Department reported. Analysts cautioned that it can be difficult to properly seasonal adjust weekly claims at this time of year due to shifts in the holiday calendar.
A series of important economic reports will be released in the first week of 2010, including construction spending, ISM manufacturing and non-manufacturing indexes, motor vehicle sales and the non-farm employment report.
If the reports were as positive as expected, the dollar will continue rising as it decouples from risk sentiment.
For more than a year, there has been a correlation between strong dollar and bad economic news as foreign exchange investors took the dollar as a safety haven currency fast cash without a hassle. The correlation seemed to be fading in the past month amid encouraging U.S. economic data.
In the next week, the Federal Reserve will release the minutes for its latest monetary policy meeting. Investors are closely watching the minutes and a major speech by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke for any clues about policy outlook of the central bank.
The euro bought 1.4321 dollars in late New York trading compared with 1.4334 dollars it bought late Wednesday. The pound rose to 1.6169 dollars from 1.6069 dollars.
The dollar fell to 1.0473 Canadian dollars from 1.0554 Canadian dollars, and rose to 93.07 Japanese yen from 92.46 Japanese yen. It fell to 1.0356 Swiss francs from 1.0370 Swiss francs.
Dollar mixed against most major currencies
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12.29.09
Posted in Free blog Tips, business, economic, money, shortly tagged blogs, finance, marketing, news, people at 11:31 pm by carydalton
NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stocks ended marginally lower on Tuesday as investors found little reason to push stocks higher and volume slowed dramatically as the year-end approached.
* The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) dropped 1.67 points, or 0.02 percent, to end unofficially at 10,545.41. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index (.SPX) dipped 1.58 points, or 0.14 percent, to finish unofficially at 1,126 easy online payday loans.20. The Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) slipped 2.68 points, or 0.12 percent, to close unofficially at 2,288.40.
* The drop halted a six-day advance in all three indexes.
(Reporting by Ellis Mnyandu; Editing by Jan Paschal)
Wall Street halts 6-day advance
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12.03.09
Posted in All, Free blog Tips, economic, hot news, online tagged blogs, finance, markets, news, political at 3:23 am by carydalton
UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) — The United Nations predicted on Wednesday that the world economy would bounce back next year with a global growth rate of 2.4 percent, but warned of a risk of a double-dip recession if wrong policies are implemented.
“We’re not out of the woods yet,” said Rob Vos, Director of Development Policy and Analysis from the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), ahead of the launch next month of the “World Economic Situation and Prospects 2010 (WESP).”
The United Nations report credited massive policy stimuli injected worldwide since late 2008 for the expected rebound. It recommended that the stimuli continue at least until there are clearer signs of a more robust recovery of employment growth and private sector demand.
“This is an important turnaround after the free-fall in world trade, industrial production, asset prices, and global credit availability which threatened to push the global economy into the abyss of a new Great Depression in early 2009,” the report said.
It noted that while an increasing number of countries showed positive growth since the second quarter of 2009 and the recovery momentum continued to build in the third quarter, “because of the steep downturn in the beginning of the year, world gross product is estimated to fall by 2.2 percent for the year (2009).”
The report warned that “the recovery is uneven and conditions for sustained growth remain fragile.” It noted that firms have mainly begun to restock inventories, rather than respond to stronger consumer or investor demand.
The report also cautioned against potential risks from a widening United States deficit and mounting external debt, which could cause a “hard landing of the U.S. dollar and cause a new wave of financial instability.”
“We’re not so much concerned if the dollar weakens further,” Vos told reporters at the UN Headquarters in New York immediate payday loans online. “What we’re concerned with is the volatility. That’s bound to upset markets and will make markets more reluctant to supply credit.”
According to the report, economic growth next year will be strongest in developing countries, particularly in China and India, which are expected to grow at 8.8 and 6.5 percent respectively.
This growth should not be interpreted as progress in poverty reduction, however.
While fewer developing countries in 2010 are expected to suffer declining per capita incomes, fewer countries will also achieve the threshold economic growth rate of 3 percent or more, the minimum needed to ensure substantial poverty reduction.
The report will be released in entirety on Jan. 15, 2010. WESP is an annual publication produced by DESA, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), and the five UN regional commissions.
UN says slow rebound for 2010 but risk of “double-dip recession”
UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) — The world economy is expected to slowly rebound in 2010 but not without a risk of a “double-dip recession” if policymakers do not undertake significant “rebalancing acts” warns a pre-release report here Wednesday by the UN economic division, the United Nations said here Wednesday.
The statement was contained in the preview of the annual report, entitled “the World Economic Situation and Prospects 2010 (WESP),”which was released here by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and five UN regional commissions. Full story
Global economy to rise by 2.4% in 2010, but recovery still “fragile”: UN
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